Gary Neville has claimed that Eden Hazard would have loved playing under Frank Lampard if he stayed at Chelsea this summer, rather than moving to Real Madrid.
The Belgium international secured a £130m switch to the Spanish capital during the post-season break after excelling during his time at Stamford Bridge, marking his time off with a thrilling performance in the Europa League final against Arsenal.
Many expected Chelsea to struggled after Hazard's exit, particularly under the weight of a FIFA-imposed transfer ban, but the Blues have gone from strength-to-strength under Lampard.
They head into tonight's Carabao Cup fourth-round clash with Manchester United on the back of a seven-match win streak and Neville made a big claim ahead of the match.
"This is probably the most exciting Chelsea team I’ve seen for some time. I bet even Eden Hazard himself would love to play in this team,” he told Sky Sports.
"In terms of the way they’ve played in the last four or five years, they’ve always had a sort of rigidity to it.
"Conte was quite methodical and Mourinho, we know what he was like at times at Chelsea.
"Now Hazard has got a manager that he would have loved here but obviously he has left."
