Now given a free role at Chelsea by Antonio Conte, Eden Hazard has found, or at least is on course to finding, his old form back.
Having now scored five goals in his last four games in the Premier League, the 25-year-old finds himself joint-third with Romelu Lukaku on the top scorers list with seven goals in 11 appearances.
Considering his tally last season was six goals in 43 appearances in all competitions, one can comfortably say his bad patch is now behind him.
However, for those around him, criticism in the press about his form wasn’t what angered them the most, it was the attacks on his person during the darker days of Jose Mourinho’s second spell that really got to them.
Speaking to DH in Belgium, the player’s father, Theirry Hazard, opened up about the so-called ‘broken’ relationship with the Special One last season.
He said: “They needed to fill pages. It was easy, it was easy to publish and it sold well. As a father, what really annoyed me was when I saw the banner with the three rats in the dressing room, and that Eden was one of them.
“The fans went a bit too far. It isn’t Eden who is going to sabotage Mourinho, Conte or anyone else. Eden wants to play. As a father, that hurt.”
The banner appeared two days after Mourinho’s departure from Chelsea, and blamed Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa for the sacking.
Regardless, Hazard and Costa are now having the last laugh, scoring 16 Premier League goals between them in 11 games.
Fabregas, on the other hand, well, he’s just keeping the bench warm for now.
