Chelsea may have been worried about Real Madrid coming for Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois before. Now they have played themselves out of the rumors.
On his day, Eden Hazard is one of the best. He can effortlessly glide around with the ball glued to his foot. He always has an eye open for spaces and teammates to give the ball.
Thibaut Courtois is the same. On his day, he can stop a shot at point blank range just as easily as he can dive to deflect a rocket of a strike.
Performances like those get the attention of clubs like Real Madrid as they continuously search for their next big purchase. The issue for Hazard and Courtois now is that complacy has caused them to play themselves out of Real Madrid rumors. Again.
Hazard was in some of his career best form going into the New Year. With the World Cup approaching and his peak nearly reached, it would be now or never for Real Madrid. World Cup years offer natural break points for players to switch clubs. And at 27, Hazard would need to make the move now if Real Madrid want to take full advantage of his peak years.
Perhaps that made Hazard complacent. In match after match in 2018, he has disappeared at best and been apathetic at worst. He was especially guilty of this in big matches. Ironically, the one he did best in, against Tottenham Hotspurs, was the one where fans finally began to call him out for his lack of effort.
So the question has to be asked; why would Real Madrid want a player with that mentality? Real Madrid can barely afford to drop a single point if they want to win the title in any given year. Anything less than perfection is blasted. Hazard’s coasting attitude would not go over well there.
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Then there is Courtois. Week after week there was a new interview of him attempting to clarify statements about his heart being in Madrid. They were twisted and blown out of proportion by the media but the best thing he could have done is stop talking.
His performance on the field began to suffer as well. It was capped off by three nutmegged goals in two matches before he became injured. He also started to talk more about being willing to stay at Chelsea at about the same time. That is likely because he realized Real Madrid were no longer interested in his services.
And this entire situation, with both Courtois and Hazard, has played out before. At the end of the 2014/2015 season, both were heavily rumored to be on Real Madrid’s radar. Neither move materialized, likely with both players expecting the offer to be there when they were ready.
That breed complacency in the next season. And after 2015/2016 it is hard not to see why Real Madrid waived the two away. Yes, they were both injured for a large part of the season. But the games they played in were not up to snuff.
They followed by upping their game back to previously high levels in the 2016/2017 season. Again, that summer there were strong Real Madrid rumors. Chelsea again held firm and the players decided to stay. The possibility of Real Madrid being there was available whenever once more.
Perhaps fearing a repeat, they did maintain good form. Until 2018 that is when the title was out of reach and Champions League unlikely. Complacency reemerged and in recent weeks rumors of Real Madrid looking elsewhere have popped up again.
Chelsea could benefit from this of course. It could be a hard lesson to the two players. But this up and down, will they or will they not, back and forth ride these two put the fans and club through is not fair. At some point, they need to commit or go. Having everything exist in a gray area is detrimental.
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The two will have until the World Cup kicks off to decide their own fates. They can play their way back into a decision between Chelsea and Real Madrid. They can commit to staying or going. But they have only themselves to blame for the uncertainty and they should not put the fans through it with them.