Best IMO.I long for the day when the best players no longer leave our shores for Spain. I don’t catch nearly as much Madrid as I do Chelsea, so for me this means I get to watch one of the best players in the world a lot less, and the league has lost its second best player. Meh.
Quote one of them please.Chelsea fans always seemed adamant this would never happen.
Yeah... but with Hazard, militao, Mendy, Jovic, Eriksen/Pogba added this summer, they will no longer be shit (which they were for only one season). Things change quickly in football.left one shit club for another. Madrid haven't been great if anyone watched la liga. They lost about as many games as us and we are shite
Barca and Real Madrid have been the teams with the most lure for ages. Barca werent this dominant force before the mid 2000's, but they had Cruyff in the 70's, Maradona in the 80's, Ronaldo in the 90's... Its just how it is. German players will dream of Bayern the vast majority of the time, British players will almost always dream of the top British sides like United and Liverpool (and recently City and Chelsea), while most of the rest will see Barca/Madrid as the peak.I long for the day when the best players no longer leave our shores for Spain. I don’t catch nearly as much Madrid as I do Chelsea, so for me this means I get to watch one of the best players in the world a lot less, and the league has lost its second best player. Meh.
Yup KDB is the best in the league for me. Certainly not much between them at all.Best IMO.
Who do you have at #1? KDB?
Yeah I know that’s how it’s always been, and likely always to remain that way. Real and Barca are footballing royalty. They’ll always be on a level of their own. It just kinda sucks for the rest of us, you know? As someone who always wants to see the best players in our league, it’s annoying to see them still packing up and heading to Spain. Even with all the money on offer in England, there’s still nothing that can match the allure of the big two.Barca and Real Madrid have been the teams with the most lure for ages. Barca werent this dominant force before the mid 2000's, but they had Cruyff in the 70's, Maradona in the 80's, Ronaldo in the 90's... Its just how it is. German players will dream of Bayern the vast majority of the time, British players will almost always dream of the top British sides like United and Liverpool (and recently City and Chelsea), while most of the rest will see Barca/Madrid as the peak.
I've seen some people moaning about the way Hazard has handled the transfer but I think he's been as honest as he could be. He's had some fun with it over the past year but every sensible person knows he wanted the move.Very classy that @duffer
No chance. 2012 is far too early. For 2-3 Van Persie was the best in the premier league. Since possibly 2014/15, it's Hazard but not every year as he's had some average or poor years in between. I'd say he's been the best for about 3 years. Odd that you're so confident in your view despite being wrong.The best player in the Premier League from 2012-2019
Anyone who disagrees is objectively wrong.
2012: AgueroThe best player in the Premier League from 2012-2019
Anyone who disagrees is objectively wrong.
I never said that he was the best player every season.2012: Aguero
2013: RvP
2014: Suarez
2015: maybe Hazard, even though it wasn’t a really stand out year for him
2016: definitely not Hazard
2017: yes.
2018: KdB
2019: Aguero/Salah/Hazard.
So over the period you mentioned, there’s only one year when you can say he’s indisputably the best player in the league. Even if you average out the performance, Aguero has been more consistent even though less flashy.
The 2014/2015 Chelsea side was anything but average, Fabregas despite being good for only half the season lead the league in assists, and Costa was the best striker in the league or at least top 2.I never said that he was the best player every season.
What I say is that on balance, from 2012 to 2019, there was no one else in the Premier League as good as him.
He carried an average Chelsea sides to two Premier League titles.
You sure?I'll bet they'd rather have kept the player. And now the footballing world knows the fee, they're going to be hit with Hazard-Money-Tax on whomever they buy.Up to £130m for a player who's got 12 months on his contract is great business for Chelsea.
Seems the most likely, Mariano Diaz has the #7 shirt at the moment, Bale has #11, Modric has #10.As for Madrid, they’ve got to give him the #7, right?
Ideally he should be getting the #10 but that number already belongs to Modric so the club will either give him the #7 (Mariano's current number) or some other random number that is not taken already.As for Madrid, they’ve got to give him the #7, right?
Don’t be sad Chelsea boys, Comunicado Oficial comes for us all eventually. It came for Ronaldo, it came for hazard and it will eventually come for pogba.
You sure?I'll bet they'd rather have kept the player. And now the footballing world knows the fee, they're going to be hit with Hazard-Money-Tax on whomever they buy.
Pickings are also slim out there - that fee isn't going to land them a like-for-like replacement.
In new terms, I don't think it's great business from a monetary POV as it'll just trigger the carousel of them getting fleeced with that kind of fee being nothing special in this market.
It was inevitable and was going to happen, but the fee isn't that impressive for a player like him, despite there being 12 months remaining on his current contract.
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Think he's grossly overrated on the caf, but what I wouldn't dispute is that the PL is losing one of its star performers, and that's a shame. He's also one of few out there who has individual flair and charisma in an era where system players and those who follow orders to a tee are taking centre stage. The PL is lesser for him leaving, and an equivalent talent won't be taking his place.
That is the worrying bit. Look at Modric, Bale, C Ronaldo, Coutinho .... the supposedly best league in the world keeps losing some of the best players....PL just lost it’s best player.
Hazard wanted a move but his performance levels and commitment never dropped. He also stayed longer than most thought but don't run his contract down to nothing.So Chelsea fans are alright with this but still hate Courtois. What’s the difference? Hazard has agitated for this move for longer than Courtois but was obviously more valuable and less replaceable to Chelsea so was not allowed to leave so easily.
As for Madrid, they’ve got to give him the #7, right?
It's a really weird day and age where money in is definitely worse than hanging on to the player unless he absolutely wants to leave , or has done so well for the club, it would break the relationship to keep him. Obviously, Hazard falls into the latter category, and it's a bit like us with Ronaldo that he's been 'goodwill sold' but money means so little in a sellers market where like-for-like talent simply isn't moving as it generally means that money in is then dissipated and 'squandered' on lesser players who make it feel like a bad exchange.I mean in a ideal world he would stay but it was obvious he wanted to leave. So £130m now rather than zero in 12 months isn’t too bad.
They’ll struggle to replace him especially with this ban hanging over their head though you’re right.
The Spanish big two will always have that draw. The difference with the Hazard situation is that he had to run his contract down to leave and gave Chelsea seven years of service. Point being that the Spanish giants economic strength is dwindling and with it their power to take these players.That is the worrying bit. Look at Modric, Bale, C Ronaldo, Coutinho .... the supposedly best league in the world keeps losing some of the best players....
I don’t think fans ever identified with Courtois. There was a sense he wasn’t a Chelsea player from day one. With Hazard it’s quite different. He carried the team a lot, his childhood love for Madrid and Zidane has been out in the open from day one, and also Chelsea haven’t don’t well enough to build around him.So Chelsea fans are alright with this but still hate Courtois. What’s the difference? Hazard has agitated for this move for longer than Courtois but was obviously more valuable and less replaceable to Chelsea so was not allowed to leave so easily.
As for Madrid, they’ve got to give him the #7, right?
They'll be ahead of us next year stillDid Chelsea just become a mid-table team? i'm joking
Well, coming from someone who I think makes very good posts that's nice to hear! I sometimes think I'm a man on an island with some of my opinionsIt's weird seeing a poster with the same random thoughts on certain footballers
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Anyone else happy this has been cleared up by Howard? Personally I was struggling for a while.Tweet
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