WASHINGTON, DC, Sporting Alert – Following Jose Mourinho’s recent claims that Eden Hazard is playing better than Cristiano Ronaldo at the moment, here is how the Chelsea playmaker performed in recent seasons.
Since moving to the English Premier League for the 2012-13 season, Hazard’s averaging rating has been on the up, according to whoscored.com and Mourinho believes the midfielder, at present, is absolutely among the top three players in the world.
During his first season, after making the transfer from French side Lille, Hazard picked up five Man-of-the-Match awards in the Premier League and collected a domestic term rating of 7.33 with whoscored.com.
The Belgian international had a pass success percentage of 85.1, while scoring nine goals and collecting 11 assists.
Things got even better for the Chelsea man the following season, after he accumulated an improved rating of 7.68, which was highlighted by 14 Premier League goals and seven assists.
In total, Hazard finished with 16 goals at an average pass success percentage of 84.8 (EPL and Champions League).
There were even more joy and added success for the 24-year-old last season, after he helped Chelsea to run away with the Premier League title during Mourinho’s second season in his secondary stint at Stamford Bridge.
Hazard improved his scoring tally to 19 goals in all competitions last term and added 11 assists for an average rating of 8.18.
And it is for those reasons, and for being a complete team player, Mourinho believes the EPL Player of the Year deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
In fact, the former Real Madrid manager – comparing the last campaign – thinks right now, his Blue maestro is playing better than Ronaldo and is right on cue with Messi.
“Eden is coming with big status now and was voted one of the top ten players in Europe last year,” Mourinho said.
“In my opinion he should be in the top three not in the top 10.
“I think Eden is the best player in our country. The best player in England. You (the football writers) voted him too, the best player in the English Premier League.
“As the Premier League is the top competition in the world, I think he is among the top players.”
Mourinho holds the views that team contributions and trophies are important when picking players to be among the elites.
“Obviously it depends on the season they have,” Mourinho added. “They have to win some titles, no? Football without titles is nothing.
“Messi won the treble.
“He won three competitions last year, he reached the Copa America final. He had a fantastic season for him and for his team.
“I don’t like players or managers to win individual trophies without the team.”
While acknowledging that Messi was miles ahead of his charge, Mourinho says Hazard should be above Ronaldo.
“Last season, yes. In spite of the fact that Ronaldo was fantastic. He was fantastic. He scored an incredible number of goals,” the Portuguese said.
“I am not saying he is not fantastic. I am just saying that, in my personal view, every football player in the world should understand that a team has to be in front and no titles.”
