Spanish football expert Guillem Balague believes that Eden Hazard is set for a Chelsea exit, but surprisingly he doesn’t believe Maurizio Sarri will miss him too much.
The Belgium star netted the winning penalty in a shootout with Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday night to reach the Europa League final, where a clash with Arsenal in Baku could be his final game in Chelsea’s colours.
Hazard has been a long-term target of Real Madrid and the return of Zinedine Zidane to the Santiago Bernabeu, who is the 28-year-old’s childhood hero, has left a move to the Spanish capital looking extremely likely.
That would be a bitter blow for the Blues , as Hazard has been directly involved in 31 of Chelsea’s 63 Premier League goals this season, but Balague has claimed that Christian Pulisic, who is arriving from Borussia Dortmund, may be a better fit for Sarri’s style of play.
“Sarri said to another colleague of his at the beginning of the season that he doesn’t do what he wants him to do,” he told BBC Radio 5Live.
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“What does Sarri want from his strikers? To actually play with their eyes closed, to have automatism with his colleagues where everybody knows what they have to do. That’s his style.
“By the way, he hasn’t given up on that. He doesn’t want all of a sudden to be a chequebook manager, he cannot buy anyway, he wants to develop. That’s what he’s always done, that’s his passion, that’s his love.
“He’s come to Chelsea to do that, until they get rid of him - and it seems like they won’t. He wants to continue with that.
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“He wants something different from his strikers, so he won’t be completely happy that he goes but the one that comes in, Pulisic, may be easily moulded into what he wants.”
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