There’s never a bad time to take a look at our team and assess how far we have come. In the space of four years, we had lost, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Willian, and Eden Hazard. These were arguably the most effective players who'd contributed to Chelsea’s attack since 2015. Since leaving the club, each player had taken different directions in their career paths, some for the better and some for the worst.
Eden Hazard stands out as a clear fan favourite. His departure was bitter-sweet for the fans as he gracefully took his exit in 2019. After seven years with the club, it was hard for me to say goodbye however I’m sure it was even harder for him to have witnessed Chelsea’s recent Champions League success.
We have finally got it right haven’t we? In retrospect, Chelsea was not the most transfer-savvy club. We had let promising talents such as Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah go in successive seasons which has inevitably come back to bite us. After releasing Eden Hazard to join his childhood dream club, Real Madrid, things took a downwards turn for the Belgian.
I hate to say this but, we may have let Hazard go just at the right time. Since his arrival in Madrid, he has played just 50 matches with only 5 goals to his name. To be fair to the Belgian, he has picked up quite a few injuries (12) forcing him to miss a whopping total of 59 matches since August 2019. That is more than double the amount of matches he had missed in his entire Chelsea career (21).
It’s difficult to say, but maybe Hazard’s form had been a crisis waiting to happen and the Chelsea boardroom made a conscious decision to finally let him go whilst we could still make a profit. Considering how much the Chelsea team had relied on Eden Hazard in the 2018/19 season, we may have dodged a bullet with this one.
Seven years seem to be the benchmark for players to move on from Chelsea lately. David Luiz and Willian both spent seven years in West London, only to move to the North. I am not one for allowing transfers to our London Rivals, however in this case I will make an exception.
The Brazilians found their way to Arsenal football club as their frustrations with their place at Chelsea grew. David Luiz was clearly unhappy and out of favour with former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard and decided a move to Arsenal was necessary. Willian however was offered a new contract and turned it down in pursuit to sign with the Gunners.
Safe to conclude that the majority of Chelsea fans do not feel as bad for the Brazilians as we do for Eden Hazard. Both made their choice and have to live with the outcome. David Luiz had already fulfilled his aspirations with Chelsea. Winning every trophy that he could with the Blues, he left West London with his head held high.
Willian on the other hand, yet to win the ultimate prize, the Champions League with Chelsea, left with the hopes to win it with Arsenal. Willian told the Sun,
"When I talked with the manager he told me why he needed me for three years. It was that he first wanted to qualify for the Champions League and win it by the time I left. That was what I wanted to hear.
I was at Chelsea for seven years and won everything except the Champions League. Hopefully, this move will give me the trophy I haven’t got as well as another Premier League title."
News flash for Willian, within one year of his departure, Chelsea had won the Champions League and Arsenal managed to regress, securing their lowest finish in the Premier League since 1995. Oh, the irony.
The players may have made the wrong choices to leave, but the club made the right one. Eden Hazard remains in a struggling Real Madrid squad - who lost their Champions League home tie with Sheriff 1-0 - whilst Willian has opened up about his unsuccessful stint at Arsenal.
He told Arena STB,
"My year at Arsenal was a bit complicated. I really couldn’t adapt to the club. I wasn’t happy there,” Willian told Arena SBT.
“To make it very clear too, it wasn’t the club that wanted me to leave. I wanted to leave the club. I expressed my feeling, said I wasn’t happy."
In the words of Didier Drogba, "Thank you, agent Willian, your mission is over, like David Luiz and Petr Cech.”
Do you think Chelsea was right to let Eden Hazard and Willian go? Let us know in the comments below! Follow our CareFree Chelsea presenter and writer Anita Abayomi on Twitter to get involved in the discussion.
