Chelsea is becoming desperate in their attempts to keep Eden Hazard. The latest development is a potential captaincy as Chelsea completely miss the point.
Eden Hazard had an excellent World Cup. He led Belgium by example most of the time and occasionally challenged his teammates to do the same. Hazard looked like a great captain.
So naturally, Chelsea and fans saw the same, but without the context. That has given rise to rumors that Hazard will be made Chelsea captain if he stays. The belief is that dangling the armband out for Hazard will be enough to convince him to stay.
That is missing the point. Hazard has already given the criteria for staying at Chelsea. It was not the captaincy. Not only that, but the precedent of handing Hazard the armband just to keep him around would be a poor one that would hurt the club.
First of all, Hazard has said he wants the Blues to make big signings. That is what it will take to keep him at Chelsea. So far, the Blues have made two first team signings this summer. Jorginho checks the big signing box. Robert Green does not. And unless Jorginho is Hazard’s best friend since Demba Ba, he alone will not be enough to convince Hazard the club remains ambitious.
So instead of doing the one task Hazard has given, Chelsea is trying to ignore all of that with the armband. But the mere act of giving the armband to Hazard is a poor precedent.
First of all, it would require taking it away from Gary Cahill. That can at least be written off as Cahill no longer being a starter. He can remain the captain of the club like John Terry did, but the on the pitch captain would be someone else. In this scenario, Hazard.
But then there is Cesar Azpilicueta. The Spaniard is the current vice captain, a guaranteed starter on any match day where the manager is not forced to rest him, and he bleeds blue. Azpilicueta is the type of player who not only leads by example, but is genuinely a great leader on and off the pitch. He is likely loyal enough to Chelsea that being skipped over will not bother him. But there are plenty of Azpilicueta supporters in the stands and even in the team who would buck Hazard for the Azpilicueta snub.
Then, if Hazard is given the armband, and he leaves next season, would it have been worth it? Chelsea has not had a one season captain in decades now and it would be an incredibly bad look to sell the captain. The Blues did not have to worry about Terry leaving the club, which is part of what made him such a great captain.
If Hazard is made captain, it should not be in an attempt to keep him at Chelsea. It should be because Hazard wants to stay for the long haul and wants to be the captain. There is currently little evidence to support either in anyway.
Hazard becoming captain is not enough to convince him Chelsea is his future. It is a delaying feel good tactic that will have little effect. If Chelsea truly wants to keep Hazard, they need to bring in big players to make the club better. Not by shuffling an armband around.