Both players have played on the wing though, Iniesta has many performances playing from the left (he has some great performances here, especially after Alba came in), and that’s generally the point I’m making. He didn’t function in the role in the way that Son does for example, and he had completely different responsibilities. If you were to assess his performance there solely through the prism of goals and assists he’d look completely underwhelming.
When Chelsea won the league in 2015, Hazard was the third highest in the squad for passes per game, joint first for key passes, first for dribbles (4.8, next highest was 1.8), most fouled (a big part of their approach play). It was very much the same in 2017, where he topped the key passes, against made a large quantity of passes per game, and dwarfed the rest of the team when it came to carrying the ball.
Functionally the role he carried out is very different to a lot of the players he gets compared to in the league. Salah, Son, Bale, Mane etc, his role was completely different, the numbers he puts up, especially when progressing the ball (and basically carrying the Chelsea attack and instigating moves), is so vastly different to these players that assessing him solely on productivity is a massive disservice to him. He wasn’t an inside forward in the usual sense, he was a wide playmaker.
and no one's giving an inch in their opinions