I've said my piece on this before, but I'll say it again. If he goes I won't cry. Fantastically talented player, up there with some of the best in the world............. On his day!

Far too inconsistent for my liking. If that's because he's being marked out of the game, that just goes to show he ain't good enough for us, because that is going to happen more often than not.

Our record with him not in the first 11 just goes to show that we can get on without him.

Will be great to get back to being Chelsea FC rather than Hazard FC!

4 minutes ago, Old Shaggy said:

I've said my piece on this before, but I'll say it again. If he goes I won't cry. Fantastically talented player, up there with some of the best in the world............. On his day!

Far too inconsistent for my liking. If that's because he's being marked out of the game, that just goes to show he ain't good enough for us, because that is going to happen more often than not.

Our record with him not in the first 11 just goes to show that we can get on without him.

Will be great to get back to being Chelsea FC rather than Hazard FC!

I'm with you in feeling that Chelsea will move on regardless of whether he remains yet the point about marking is not so much that he is not a great player, the point is no-one else seems to offer the same level of threat. 

Not holding any grudges against him for leaving at the end of the season, hopefully we get a decent fee, and the transfer ban may just play in our hand as we aren't to to throw it on random players because we have to replace him immediately.

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

I'm with you in feeling that Chelsea will move on regardless of whether he remains yet the point about marking is not so much that he is not a great player, the point is no-one else seems to offer the same level of threat. 

Either way, we ain't spending the money to complement Hazard in attack, so his skills will probably be better utilised elsewhere.

Maybe with him gone and Willian/Pedro getting on a bit, we may start using some of the talented youth we've got hanging around!

Still, if Hazard does go I’m sure Willian will step up and fill the goal scoring and creative void for us. 

1 hour ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Not holding any grudges against him for leaving at the end of the season, hopefully we get a decent fee, and the transfer ban may just play in our hand as we aren't to to throw it on random players because we have to replace him immediately.

 

Strictly speaking we can sign players, we just can't register them. Think it was Barca who signed Arda Turan and he just hung out training for half a season before being registered. They even had the cheek to make a formal request to FIFA to allow them to register him early when Rafinha got injured, despite their ban still being in place.

51 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Still, if Hazard does go I’m sure Willian will step up and fill the goal scoring and creative void for us. 

Lol..no chance. 

 

Forever Carefree was clearly being sarcastic.

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Still, if Hazard does go I’m sure Willian will step up and fill the goal scoring and creative void for us. 

My sarcasm meter is well tuned... 

but could you get behind the team next season with CHO and Pulisic as the main wings?

We could finish 6th, but we could finish 6th this year with maddeningly frustrating performances. At least with two wingers Under 21 we should see some growth, improvement and hope for better days.

My fear is that we line up with another season of Willian and Pedro who are already the 2 oldest wingers in the league. When I see Willian and Pedro starting the same game, it sucks the life out of me.

4 minutes ago, Skinnedy said:

My sarcasm meter is well tuned... 

but could you get behind the team next season with CHO and Pulisic as the main wings?

We could finish 6th, but we could finish 6th this year with maddeningly frustrating performances. At least with two wingers Under 21 we should see some growth, improvement and hope for better days.

My fear is that we line up with another season of Willian and Pedro who are already the 2 oldest wingers in the league. When I see Willian and Pedro starting the same game, it sucks the life out of me.

If we lost Hazard, yes, I would love the idea of putting some faith in younger players, building for the future.

But Sarri is already on record as basically saying a player isn’t developed enough until the age of 22 so can I truthfully see him playing a 21 and 18 year old in two of the three attacking positions week in, week out? Nope.

Same reason I don’t see Abraham getting a chance next season... for all Sarri’s sound bites about being a coach who develops players he definitely has a preference for more senior players and the transfer ban isn’t going to change that.

Willian and Pedro being our first choice wingers next season is a very real possibility.

3 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Willian and Pedro being our first choice wingers next season is a very real possibility.

Won't that just be awful... sackable offense right there.

4 minutes ago, Skinnedy said:

Won't that just be awful... sackable offense right there.

Someone really would need to sit down Sarri in the summer and say, if you come 5th with Pedro Willian and Higuain, you will be sacked. If you come 6th with CHO and Pulisic, you probably won't. 

Next season should be a free hit for the club to play the youth and plan for the future. 

 

Still not sure if Hazard is going to go. We can't accept Kovacic (or Bale) into the deal. So we would be asking for at least 70-80m cash. Are Madrid prepared to pay that? We aren't going to be happy accepting less. 

It's not his decision at the end of the day whether he goes this summer. He still has a contract but I have a small feeling that "his decision" was to stay for the remainder of his contract and leave on a free at 29. 

Edited March 12, 20197 yr by bisright1

Well if he goes good luck and he deserves to choose his destiny.

He better realise he will also be booed to hell if he underperforms

Our results without Hazard playing any minutes on the pitch this season :

1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-0, 3-2, 4-0, 2-2, 3-0, 3-0, 3-0

Played 10 Won 9 Drawn 1 Lost 0 For 28 Against 6.

Granted it's mostly the weaker teams in the Cups but even so, it does suggest that there will be life after Hazard, should he up sticks to Madrid ...

 

With Zidane being back at Madrid there's probably a better chance of Hazard going there, not great news for us. 

Even so, Hazard will not solve Madrid's problems, how on earth is he going to solve the obvious void they have which is lack of goals? 

If I were Madrid I would be putting all my chips in for the likes of Mbappe, Neymar or Salah, not a player like Hazard when you already have Isco, Ascensio, Junior and Bale. 

25 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

 

Still not sure if Hazard is going to go. We can't accept Kovacic (or Bale) into the deal. So we would be asking for at least 70-80m cash. Are Madrid prepared to pay that? We aren't going to be happy accepting less. 

 

 

Going by the Fifield/Terreur reporting, Real value him at €100m while we're asking for something more like €115m. Hardly a major difference that can't be ironed out, this is Real Madrid we're talking about here. A big fee for them is almost a point of pride.

Thibaut Courtois' Real Madrid future in doubt as Zinedine Zidane arrives and father accuses media of targeting goalkeeper. (Independent)

I would love it if that happened...love it. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Are Madrid prepared to pay that?

Chance we could get even more than that. There's a chance we put €90-100 in the bank for the 2020 summer window. 

I'm actually more worried about striker than I am about the personnel on wing (who plays at Wing scares me to death) 

I'm still fuzzy on Higuain. The existing contract with Juve had an option to extend. If we exercise that option before the ban starts, then he's not a new player, right? Morata has an 18 month loan, that wouldn't be cut short of Atletico were facing a ban, would it? 

If Higuain is definitely gone, does resigning Giroud become a must? Would he even extend?

The option of Giroud, Batshuayi, Abraham scares me more than CHO, Pulisic, Pedro and Willian. 

Do we see some of Pedro in a false 9? How about some Loftus-Cheek at striker. He had a lot of the same tools as Giroud, but is more athletic and technical. 

I'm OK with the backs. Zouma and Reese James provide reinforcements. 

Mason Mount replaces Kovacic 

But striker... Ugh... 

I've never heard of this site, but it says the option for Higuain is still good. 

https://www.thewistle.com/2019/03/11/big-chelsea-relief-as-they-can-sign-gonzalo-higuain-despite-ban/

Other sources say he can't be extended. I'm going to lean to the pessimistic side and say we can't. 

 

 

Edited March 12, 20197 yr by Skinnedy

2 hours ago, Brutos said:

Well if he goes good luck and he deserves to choose his destiny.

He better realise he will also be booed to hell if he underperforms

well the recent events with jorginho being booed doesn't put us apart from madrid droes. rember how sh*t was ivanovic at the end and can't recall the same for him, thank god.

4 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Still, if Hazard does go I’m sure Willian will step up and fill the goal scoring and creative void for us. 

Im part of the brigade hoping Willian leaves.

It’s interesting that for all of hazards good points, the last 3 managers have also called him out for being poor defensively. Sarri especially. He says we’re a better defensive unit when Hazard is playing centrally. 

Be interesting to see what sort of impact it has. 

9 minutes ago, JM7 said:

It’s interesting that for all of hazards good points, the last 3 managers have also called him out for being poor defensively. Sarri especially. He says we’re a better defensive unit when Hazard is playing centrally. 

Be interesting to see what sort of impact it has. 

It’s all well and good coaches wanting to implement some master strategy but at the end of the day football is a simple game about putting a ball in a net.

Individual genius like Hazard doesn’t need taming and putting on a leash it needs to be celebrated and embraced.

Reign in a player like Hazard and what’s the point? Individual moments of brilliance will always be one of the greatest things about watching football.

14 minutes ago, JM7 said:

It’s interesting that for all of hazards good points, the last 3 managers have also called him out for being poor defensively. Sarri especially. He says we’re a better defensive unit when Hazard is playing centrally. 

Be interesting to see what sort of impact it has. 

Our backline often doesn't know how to defend at all, same can be said about the midfield when the ball is lost. Hazard not doing much defensivly is a low blow when having in mind that he is the top scorer and top assist player for us that has been carrying the attack for a few seasons in a row now.

If Sarri was smart he would stop trying to implement a system based on another team from another league that plays on a more wide pitch, where defenders need more time to cover the spaces, maybe then the whole squad would be better at both attacking and defending. Because his system doesn't work on Stamford Bridge that is more narrow and it doesn't matter what players he has.

On the flipside i do think we overrate Hazard because he's literally our only creative attacking outlet. The board have spent £200m+ on dross in previous transfer windows and still not found players who are genuine attacking threats. It looks like we will go into next season in the same situation too as they have pinned hopes on a 20 year old Pulisic to be that guy. 

100mill would be good business. I just hope we do this deal very soon so we can focus on the remainder of the season.

Am sure Eden will give his best to end on a high note.

And  I am happy with Pulisic, CHO, Pedro and Willian for a season.