Eden Hazard

{Profile Updated 30/05/2012}







Date of Birth: - 7th January 1991



Height: - 5ft 7inches



Position: - Attacking midfielder / Winger



Nationality: - Belgian.



Club History: - Lille



Linked With: - Manchester United

- Manchester City

- Chelsea

- Tottenham



Estimated Market Value: - Around £38million.















Lille

Hazard joined Lille in 2005 (from a local youth side of Tubize) and spent two years developing in the club's local sports school, due to its youth academy in Luchin not being in operation at that time.



28th May 2007 - Hazard signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three year deal with Lille. At the start of the 2007/2008 season, (at the age of 16) Hazard was promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, (the fourth level of French football) but he still also played with Lille's under-18 team in its League and the Coupe Gambardella.



1st September 2007 - Hazard made his amateur debut in a league match against Racing Club de France appearing as a second half substitute in a 3-1 defeat. He then made his first start a week later in the team's 1-0 defeat to Lesquin.



14th November 2007 - After spending the majority of October and the early part of November playing with the club's under-18 team, due to several players being on international duty, Hazard was called up to the senior team by manager Claude Puel to participate in a friendly match against Belgian club Bruges. Hazard appeared as a substitute in the match and, as a result of his performance, was included in the 18-man squad to face Nancy in a league match on the 8 days later.



Hazard, subsequently, made his professional debut in the match coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute. Hazard returned to the club's reserve team and spent December playing with the squad. Following the winter break, Hazard returned to the first team in January and made substitute appearances in three league matches against Metz, Sochaux, and Paris Saint-Germain.



Following the match against Paris Saint-Germain, he was demoted back to amateur level where he played with both the reserve team in the fourth division and the under-18 team in the Coupe Gambardella.



17th May 2008 - Hazard scored his first amateur goal in a 3-2 victory over Vitre. Hazard eventually finished his amateur career with 11 appearances and one goal, helping the reserve team finish in fifth place, which was the first time among professional clubs' reserve teams playing in the group.







2008/2009 Season:

At the start of this season, Hazard made substitute appearances regularly making his season debut as a substitute on 14th September 2008 against Sochaux in a 1-1 draw.



20th September 2008 - The next of his substitute appearances proved pivital against Auxerre, as with Lille trailing 2-1 in the final minutes of the match Hazard, after Lille took a corner kick, quickly scooped up a short clearance from Auxerre and scored with a right footed bullet just from around 22 yards out. This goal drew the score 2-2 in the 88th minute, and with Lille's momentum the club won the match 3-2 in injury time.



Hazard's first career goal (this goal) resulted in him becoming the youngest goalscorer in the club's history. 4 days after scoring his first professional goal, Hazard made his first professional start in a 4-2 defeat on penalties to Montpellier in the Coupe de la Ligue.



15th November 2008 - After featuring as a substitute in the team's predecessing five league matches, Hazard made his first professional league start against Saint-Etienne. He capped the appearance by scoring the opening goal in the club's 3-0 victory.



18th November 2008 - Hazard's assured performances with the club resulted in Lille offering him a three year contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2012.



After featuring as a substitute in December, Hazard returned to the starting lineup in January where he scored yet another goal.



February 6th 2009 - Two weeks later, Hazard scored the match-winning goal in a league match against Sochaux and 2 weeks later, assisted on the winner against Monaco.



In the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France, Hazard netted a goal in a 3-2 win over the competition's defending champions Lyon.



In the final 10 league matches of the campaign, Hazard started eight and contributed to the team finishing in fifth place, which resulted in Lille qualifying for the newly-created UEFA Europa League. After the season, he was named the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Young Player of the Year, becoming the first international player to achieve the honor.







2009/2010 season:

Hazard began the season on a positive note scoring in Lille's first competitive match of the season, which was also Hazard's first European goal of his career, contributing to the team's 2-0 victory against Serbian club FK Sevojno in the first leg of the club's third qualifying round match in the UEFA Europa League.



27th August 2009 - Hazard scored his second career European goal in the club's second leg tie in the play-off round against Belgian club Genk. It was Lille's final goal in the club's 4-2 victory.



A month later, Hazard was instrumental in Lille's 5-1 thrashing of Czech club Slavia Prague, and one reason for this was as he was partly responsible for the opening goal - slicing through the defense and delivering a cross near post, which awkwardly went off Slavia player Marek Suchy resulting in an own goal.



20th December 2009 - Hazard scored his first league goal of the season in the club's 3-0 win over Le Mans. Hazard also provided both the assists on the other two goals.



30th January 2010 - Hazard scored the only goal in Lille's win over Derby rivals Lens. This victory helped the club achieve stability in the league by keeping them in the UEFA Champions League places. It also ended a disaster of a week which saw Lille suffer elimination from both of France's cup competitions.



Five days later, Hazard and Lille reached an agreement on a contract extension, which will keep the player at the club until 2014.



11th March 2010 - Hazard scored the only goal in Lille's victory over English club Liverpool in the first leg of the club's UEFA Europa League tie converting a free kick in the 83rd minute.



Three weeks later, Hazard provided two assists in the club's 4-1 win over fellow title contenders Montpellier. The two assists brought his league tally to seven, tied for second in the league. For his impressive displays in the month of March, Hazard was given the UNFP Player of the Month award.



29th April 2010 - Hazard was nominated for the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award. (This was also for the second consecutive season)



9th May 2010 - Hazard was awarded the UNFP Young Player of the Year trophy for the second consecutive season. He became the first player since its inception in 1994 to win the award twice. However, Hazard lost out on the Player of the Year award, which was awarded to Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez.







Late 2011/2012 season:

Also, for his performances in the month of March, Hazard was named the UNFP Player of the Month for the second time in his career.



2nd April 2011 - Hazard capped his 100th league appearance with Lille by scoring the second goal in a 3-1 win over Caen. The goal tied his career-high for goals in a season and also moved Lille eight points clear at the top of the league table.



19th April 2011 - after appearing as a first half substitute, he scored the opening goal in Lille's 2-0 Coupe de France semi-final victory over Nice. The victory inserted the club into the 2011 Coupe de France Final; the club's first appearance in the competition's final since 1955.





10th May 2011 - Hazard was nominated for the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season.



In the Coupe de France final, Hazard played 89 minutes as Lille defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Stade de France. A week later, Lille clinched the Ligue 1 title by drawing 2-2 away to Paris Saint-Germain, achieving the club's first league championship since the 1953-54 season and the club's first double since the 1945-46 season.



The domestic cup and league title were the first two honours in Hazard's career. On the day after Lille won the league, Hazard was named the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year becoming the youngest player ever to win the award (at the age of 20 years old). He was also rewarded with a place in the organization's Team of the Year for the second consecutive season.















International Career:

Hazard has played at Belgian U17, U18 and at Senior level. With all due respect, there really isn't much use in doing this section to in-depth as there isn't many useful facts, other than he made his debut on the 18th November 2008 against Luxemborg.



Hazard then eventually scored his first International goal on 11th October 2011.



The most important thing to say on his International Career, is that he has had SEVERAL publicised 'incidents' which has led to many people saying he has a poor attitude.



3rd June 2011 - One of these 'incidents' was hilariously labelled as 'BurgerGate' as he was substituted on the 60th minute during a game against Turkey, as after being substituted he actually left the stadium and his team-mates and went outside and was sat down eating a burger. This was one of the more recent incidents, but have been several more before. Hazard was later disciplined for this incident.













Club Statistics:

Lille: - 192 appearances, 50 goals and 38 assists.





International Statistics:

27 appearances, 2 goal and 8 assists.













General Comments:

Eden Hazard. Possibly the most highly-rated player in modern day football. But the question is, is the hype actually substantiated? Yes. Yes it is. Without a shadow of a doubt, this player is a magician. Hazard has truly phenomenal skill, as some of the skills he does you just think, did he really just do that? Is that actually possible? Well this kid makes it possible. At the age of 21, he plays like a player who has been playing for a decade, and in hinesight, he's already been playing 5 years and that's just baffling!



Every time Hazard's on the ball, or making a run, you see the pace of the game just go into over-drive, and his opponents seem to tremble and be irrational with their movements and marking of other players, and it genuinely seem like they're just baffled by his quick feet; the not knowing of what he's going to do. With all of this is mind, I believe if it was just down to his playing ability, he would, without a shadow of a doubt, cut it in ANY league around the world, and improve it.



However, he has a very, very big issue with regards to his attitude. His team-mates have commented on it, his managers have commented on it and his National side coaches have also commented on it. The most frequent comment is that he's a lazy player/trainer and doesn't put in much effort who can be extrememly selfish and egotistical. This must be the case as so many people have commented on it with no prompt, and as I mentioned earlier (No matter how funny it may seem), to walk out on your team mates to go and sit on a bench and eat a burger rather than support them, seems like an act of a complete kn*b. Just because you're substituted, does not give you the right to storm off in a huff and forget your team-mates. It's outrageous.



As we have recently discovered, he is also a little bit, of a wind-up merchant with regards to which club he's deciding to go to, toying with the hopes of so many fans. I truly dislike this player and I really hope he doesn't cut it in the Premier League, because his acts are truly disgraceful. He thinks he is bigger than any and every club in the world, and treats fans like utter dirt.



After all of this crap though, Hazard seems to have decided that he wants to play in Chelsea, and I believe it is just the fee left to be agreed before this signing is made permanent, which I believe it probably will, although you can never be sure when it's this kid involved. It's so very frustrating as a football fan, because this player has so much ability, but with his current attitude, I don't think he deserves to play football at a top club, because he is, in my opinion, a disgrace to professional footballers everywhere, and a general horrid individual.



I apologise for voicing my opinion on him as an individual in such a bias way, but I'm just being honest.





Thanks all,



Ed022-}