Given Chelsea’s impending Premier League title triumph and the fact that Jose Mourinho’s side have been the team to beat in English football for the entire campaign, it makes sense that a Blues star be named PFA Player of the Year.
Although some will argue that captain John Terry has been the West London outfit’s talisman, Eden Hazard picked up the accolade, with few complaints at the Belgian’s triumph.
Since signing from Lille in the summer of 2012, the sprightly winger has showcased penetrating pace, unmatched trickery and an eye for goal, making him a worthy winner of the individual accolade this season.
Although some would make a case for Harry Kane’s potential usurping of the Belgian star, Hazard has been the most consistently influential player in the Premier League in 2014-15.
When opponents come up against Chelsea, despite the calibre of some of the Blues’ other stars, Hazard is quickly identified as the major threat.
The Belgian is undoubtedly one of the Premier League’s most gifted players and a real drawcard to millions of fans from all over the world that follow the English top flight vehemently.
However, with no Premier League players in the top three of the Ballon d’Or running since Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo finished as runner up to Lionel Messi in 2009, can Hazard make the ascent to the next level?
Going from being a star in the Premier League to become one of the world’s best will take some doing for the 24-year-old.
Hazard has netted 13 league goals this season – an excellent return for a midfielder in anyone’s book, while he is on track to exceed last year’s tally of 14 strikes.
However, putting this into perspective by comparing the return to some of the best players in the world shows just how much Hazard must improve to be considered a global superstar.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored exactly three times more goals this season in La Liga than the Chelsea man has in the Premier League, netting an incredible 39 times.
Most of the Stamford Bridge faithful will hope that Hazard can continue to improve. At times he has been an unplayable, one-man machine that can win games by himself, but not to the same extent or as frequently as the best players on the planet.
Even someone like Antoine Griezmann, who plays in a similar fashion to the Chelsea star, has scored 22 goals this season in his first season at Atletico Madrid.
Hazard’s eight assists have been massively important for Chelsea this season, but again he is thoroughly outdone by La Liga and world football’s best; Messi has double that number, laying on 16 goals for his Barcelona team-mates.
Rumours linking the Belgian with a move to Real Madrid are understandable given his ability, but if he was to take this course of action it is fair to suggest that he would go from the best player in the Premier League to the third or fourth best player in Madrid’s team.
Hazard is the Premier League’s best hope of an unlikely inclusion in the three-man shortlist for the 2015 Ballon d’Or, but the Chelsea star has a lot of improvement to make if he is to rival the abilities of Messi, Ronaldo and the world’s best.
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