WHAT a Player. In terms of individual skill and consistently producing match winning moments and dragging us through games, the Best I have ever seen in a Chelsea shirt. So many good memories.

Of course now the worry, as I cannot recall a time when we have so heavily relied on ONE player. In the past we have lost some great players but there has been a squad of great players. Now we are losing an exceptional player and don't have as many great players - not yet anyway.

But so long Eden - it has been a pleasure.

Eden Hazard and Gianfranco Zola have now both played for Chelsea for 7 years, so I think that it's now fair to group them together as being Chelsea legends. 

Hazard's final act: Winning the EL.

Zola's final act: Getting us into Top 4, persuading Roman to buy us and thus changing the club forever, plus making an ass out of half of Liverpool's side.

Hazard highlights:

- Incredible goals versus Sparta Prague/Bayern Munich/Tottenham/Everton/Arsenal/West Ham - the last two in particular would have made Maradona stand and applaud

- Hat-tricks versus Newcastle/Cardiff

- Double-figures in goal tally in every season bar 2015/16 (when almost the entire squad was sub-par or worse)

- Getting us into the 2018/19 CL places with limited support, plus carrying the side during the second half of 2014/15

Truly deserves to be a Chelsea institution, and quite possibly we will never be able to replace him.

Far thee well, oh great one. 

6 hours ago, andy said:

Sorry to go against the popular opinion but I have to say 

legend no ! A legend will give his all to the club no matter what, there have been times when he has not done that. 

However a great player and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for all he has done for the club !

let’s move on ...........

 

 

You don't get players like that anymore Andy, I would say by today's standards he's definitely a legend, he won us so many trophies. 

Legend. Not even a debate.

Real Madrid are getting a special player.

Most talented player i've seen in a Chelsea shirt. Certainly a Chelsea great in my eyes.

Top 5 Chelsea player of all time that I have witnessed. Worthy to be mentioned alongside the all time greats, certainly on talent.

 

First trophy with Chelsea was the Europa. 

The last trophy with Chelsea is the Europa. 

Edited May 30, 20197 yr by enigma

 

Haha this made me chuckle: 

 

Our greatest ever player on pure talent alongside Zola

Our greatest ever player on pure talent alongside Zola. Sorry why did this post twice? ?

Edited May 30, 20197 yr by MrsGaffer

Your first contribution was to help us lift the Europa League, and your last contribution has been to replicate that.

You've been with us for 7 seasons and it's difficult to put into words how much we appreciate everything you've done. You've been a joy to watch. 

Even during your poorest campaign, you gave us an incredible gift of ending Spurs' title hopes.

2 Premier Leagues
2 Europa Leagues
1 Fa Cup
1 League Cup

Thank you, Eden. For everything. I wish you all the best.

I'm not crying, you are. 

In terms of talent, he's one of the greatest Chelsea players I've ever seen. Just a naturally gifted footballer who is a joy to watch every time he steps out onto the pitch.

If he's leaving, then I have nothing but gratitude and appreciation for all he has produced at this club. He will go down as a Chelsea legend and be very difficult to replace in the short to medium term future.

I think Chelsea will always hold a special place in his heart no matter what, and at least we can boast about having had him represent our club during his peak years.

44 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I'm not crying, you are. 

I swear it's dusty in here man...

Seriously though, I gladly admit all of the posts about Eden on here are making my eyes water. 

Who's cutting onion's ???

Whether you think he's a legend or not, he's a player that in 20 years time you'll see highlight reels of his time and Chelsea and think to yourself "wow, I wish we had him in our team now". 

Savor the fact you got to enjoy him and see him helping us win trophies and league titles during the last seven years. 

A talent as good as Hazard only comes along every now and then so just be thankful he was ever here at all rather than worrying about what he does next. 

Serious question to everybody, could him leaving be a possible blessing in disguise? 

Maybe we relied too much on his individual skills and that might have hindered Sarri's idea of football a bit.

Just a thought...

1). Europa League 2013

2). League Cup 2015

3). Premier League 2015

4). Premier League 2017

5). FA Cup 2018

6). Europa League 2019

Just now, cRyptic said:

Serious question to everybody, could him leaving be a possible blessing in disguise? 

Maybe we relied too much on his individual skills and that might have hindered Sarri's idea of football a bit.

Just a thought...

He'll strengthen every team but ultimately i think its the right time for him to go if we're moving on with Sarri. 

Sarri will always rely on teamplay, whereas Hazard does everything on his own a lot of the time.

Great ending for Eden.  Absolutely gutted we can't keep him.  But he didn't grow up a Chelsea boy, so he's shown plenty of loyalty towards us as far as I'm concerned.  He wants to play for Madrid and it wouldn't be fair for anyone to stop that from happening.

I think we'll truly realise how special he is in the next couple of years because I think he could be exactly what Madrid need.

As for Chelsea, it'll be tough in the short term losing him, but could be helpful in the mid to long term as it means we need to build, grow and nurture other players to hopefully fill his boots, and then some.  I've never liked us relying too much on one player, but next year we may not have anyone to rely on at all.

Time to rebuild...  We go again.

3 minutes ago, cRyptic said:

Serious question to everybody, could him leaving be a possible blessing in disguise? 

Maybe we relied too much on his individual skills and that might have hindered Sarri's idea of football a bit.

Just a thought...

I can see why you’ve asked that.

It definitely needs other players to step up now, it’s almost like the other players was watching as fans expecting him to deliver the goods.

We’ve won games without him before but if we serve the transfer ban then replacing his creativity and goals will be difficult next season.

We’ll just have to find a way somehow, Willian seems to play better on the left.

5 hours ago, DaRick said:

Eden Hazard and Gianfranco Zola have now both played for Chelsea for 7 years, so I think that it's now fair to group them together as being Chelsea legends. 

Hazard's final act: Winning the EL.

Zola's final act: Getting us into Top 4, persuading Roman to buy us and thus changing the club forever, plus making an ass out of half of Liverpool's side.

Hazard highlights:

- Incredible goals versus Sparta Prague/Bayern Munich/Tottenham/Everton/Arsenal/West Ham - the last two in particular would have made Maradona stand and applaud

- Hat-tricks versus Newcastle/Cardiff

- Double-figures in goal tally in every season bar 2015/16 (when almost the entire squad was sub-par or worse)

- Getting us into the 2018/19 CL places with limited support, plus carrying the side during the second half of 2014/15

Truly deserves to be a Chelsea institution, and quite possibly we will never be able to replace him.

Far thee well, oh great one. 

Zola highlight also turning the Stuttgart CWC final around by scoring immediately after coming on and helping in building the dynasty of cups and titles that has made the legends like hazard want to join and stay with us.

Both are Blues royalty.

I will back down a bit about my comment if you see the time it was shortly after he said I am off more or less. However not completely he did as far as I am concerned throw an almost season long strop hid behind an “injury” - there were many on here saying cash in back then. - did I imagine this ? ( I am old,  I can’t remember what I did this morning) 

with that in mind I could never hold him in the same esteem as Lampard, Terry, Drogba, Dixon, Osgood, Cech, Zola to name a few. No doubt he is a better player and won more than some of them. He can go into my junior legend squad ?... and I agree I will look back at clips and say what a player he was. Also agree with most of the comments on here - in terms of natural talent he is up there with Zola and Osgood for me.