Eden Hazard has heart set on a parting gift after becoming a man at Chelsea

Eden Hazard looks at you with a grin, his chin jutting out, eyes half closed, as if he has just found out the numbers to next week’s lottery and there is no way in hell he is going to tell you.
In a sense he has. No matter what happens in tomorrow’s Europa League final against Arsenal he will be embarking on a new life at another club next season – more likely than not Real Madrid, but definitely not at another Premier League club – with the prospect of a lot more success, adulation and, let’s be frank, money.

Hazard has been the subject of speculation over a move for the entire season, dropping tidbits at strategic moments, such as after the World Cup when he said “it might be time to discover something different”, or in February when he pronounced that he had “made a decision”, or earlier this month when he teased us all by fluttering his eyelids once again with the repeat statement that he had come to a conclusion.

The prolonged flirtation would appear cocky if he wasn’t so darn pleasant with it. And this courting of the Bernabeu could be seen as unseemly if his performances at Chelsea had dropped. But they haven’t. Indeed, his stats are the best they have ever been, despite the fact that he rates the recently completed Premier League campaign as “50-50”.

And whether tomorrow night in Baku will be his last in a Chelsea shirt or not (hint: it will be), he is single-minded in his aim. “I just want to win the trophy, that is it,” he said. “It does not matter the game or if I score or I do not score. If it is my last game I hope to bring the trophy.”

Phenomenal season

Hazard has spent seven years at Chelsea, winning two league titles, a pair of FA Cups, a League Cup and the 2013 edition of tomorrow night’s final. His most recent season has been phenomenal; in stark contrast to that of his current manager, Maurizio Sarri, whose future appears to be hanging on the result of the game. Or not, as he could get sacked regardless.

As Hazard reflects on his time at Chelsea, he says his spell in west London has made him grow up, partly because of the onus to provide silverware, but also through the relentless nature of league and cup football at the sharp end of the business.

“As a person I didn’t change,” he adds. “I am still the same. As a player I score more goals and I have more experience. But I try to be the same as when I start. And then when I finish I try to be the same.

“I am more of a man, of course. When I came here I was a baby. Now I am a big man.

“To be fair, I was a little bit scared as when I came Didier [Drogba] left and when you have Didier in the team for sure you win a trophy. But at the end I played with top players. And if you look at my seven years at Chelsea, we did something amazing together. We won trophies together and I am just happy.”

‘We are strong mentally’

Now, at the age of 28, he is at his peak – and, realistically, good for one last big move. It is a good job that in the season just finished he was top of the pile in the Premier League for assists, No 8 for goals with 16, and in the top 20 for shots, through balls and passes. But though his numbers are something to crow about, Hazard refuses to.

“It has been 50-50,” he says when asked to assess the season. “Sometimes happy, sometimes not. But when you see the results, we finished in the top three of the Premier League and we reached the Cup final and we reached the final of the Europa League. If we win the Europa League the season can still be good.

“OK not perfect, because at the end you want compete for the league and FA Cup. But the way that we are playing we have improved in the past two months and we got some injuries and bad news, but we are strong mentally. If we go to Baku with a strong approach to the game we can do something good there.”

And of the continued speculation, much of which has been sparked by Hazard himself, we wonder whether he can park it in order to help Chelsea to a trophy that will at least dim the grim memories of January when Sarri-ball completely unravelled, if not keep the manager in a job.

“Of course I can put it aside,” Hazard says, flashing that smile again. “How long do you know me now, guys? You know how I am. I have done it during a full season right now, and I have played reasonably well. So I stay in that mode: just thinking about football. After the final we will see what happens.”

Indeed, we will see. And no doubt all of Hazard’s numbers will come up.