Chelsea: Cesc Fabregas leads the peer pressure on Eden Hazard

Cesc Fabregas is doing his part to keep Eden Hazard at Chelsea. The Blues may need a true team effort to keep their star – and their attendant ambitions – at Stamford Bridge.

Cesc Fabregas knows what Eden Hazard’s departure would do to Chelsea. Fabregas has only one year left on his contract and will be one of the most adversely affected by Jorginho’s arrival. Whatever his future may hold, Fabregas knows that it will be much dimmer if Hazard is no longer his teammate, whether that change happens this year or next year.

Fabregas said he talks to Hazard often, reminding the Belgian – just in case he forgot – how much the fans love having him and how much the rest of the Blues love playing alongside him. “He is the best player at the club and we need at Chelsea to keep the best players… For sure, we want him to stay.”

Chelsea may need the rest of the squad to join Fabregas on the peer pressure charm offensive. Every player has his role in the campaign. The older players can explain to Hazard the value of making a long-term home at a club as supportive as Chelsea. His peers can talk about how much better they can make each other on the pitch. The younger players can tell Hazard how much they have always looked up to him, what an honour it is to train with or near him and how much they hope to learn from him in the coming years.

N’Golo Kante can tail Hazard all hours of the day, harassing him at the store, at the playground with his kids and popping up outside Hazard’s kitchen window: “You sign yet? You sign yet?” If Hazard stops for a coffee on the weekend, Kante can sneak up behind him, dispossess the coffee right out of Hazard’s hand and say “You can have it back when you extend.”

Cesc Fabregas has a particularly important insight to share with Hazard, so Chelsea should be grateful for his efforts. He has twice left Spain for the Premier League. He knows the pros and cons of life in each league.

Fabregas can tell Hazard first-hand what to expect from the fans in Madrid, based on his experiences in Barcelona. He knows what the pressure on players is like in La Liga’s mega-clubs.  Both players are rather quiet family men, whose talents keep them in the spotlight even if they are not the type to seek out adulation for themselves. Fabregas can speak to many of the things – football and otherwise – that are important to Hazard as he weighs Real Madrid against more years at Chelsea.

Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard were two of “the rats” in the darkest days of 2015/16. That one of them is now working to convince the other to stay at Chelsea is an encouraging sign of how far the club are removed from those times, and how much the key players in this squad have come together.

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The rest of the Blues should help Fabregas out when Eden Hazard returns to the World Cup. Of course, they don’t even need to wait that long. Their Belgian friend is just a text or a WhatsApp away. A small effort that could contribute to the huge return of Hazard extending his time at Stamford Bridge.