No, Chelsea still doesn’t need Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard

Thomas Tuchel supposedly wanted Adama Traore at Chelsea. When met with rumors like that, many fans turned away from “back the manager” towards “don’t sign deadwood”. It makes sense, of course. Chelsea has gotten very good at buying subpar players that then stay on the books via the loan army for years. That same cash could have been saved by using an academy player or just over paying for someone that might actually help the team.

Unsurprisingly, this same notion of buying players that actually help the team has a limit. One of those limits is Eden Hazard. The shadow of the former Chelsea player has had a horrid time at Real Madrid and escape plans have been hatched. The Blues shouldn’t be saving Eden Hazard.

This isn’t a “good riddance” style article. Eden Hazard served the club incredibly admirably and earned the right to depart on his own terms. That’s a rare thing in the modern game. It should also be the end of the story. Hazard got his dream move. That it hasn’t worked out is not, and will never be, Chelsea’s problem. Offering Hazard a way out to a club that he loves and that loves him is not the way this story should end because the story already ended.

Many of the calls to bring Hazard back are not based in reality. Real Madrid’s Hazard is in no way, shape, or form the Hazard of Chelsea. Phillipe Coutinho returning to the Premier League for one good game is by no means proof that Hazard can return and pick back up where he left off. It would be a foolish, sentimental fueled move by Chelsea that would harm the club more than it would help.

Hazard, in his current state, is not a better player than Callum Hudson-Odoi or Christian Pulisic in their current states. Hazard, in his current state, will only get worse in coming seasons. Hudson-Odoi and Pulisic, in their current states, will only get better. That’s the sad reality of how far Hazard has fallen off from the player he once was. It is no one’s fault. It just is what it is.

Chelsea’s current set up barely has room for all the attackers at the club as it is. Adding a past it Hazard only makes that situation worse and surely pushes someone out of the club to make way. It isn’t worth it. If Hazard looked anywhere close to the player he used to be, then maybe. But he doesn’t and that’s just the reality.

Fans want signings this window, but what they really want is signings that can help the team now and in the long run. Hazard would do neither. Resigning Hazard would be a purely sentimental move that would hurt Chelsea more than it helps. It’s awful what has happened to him after he got his dream move, especially given how he engineered his exit the right way. But solving his problems now isn’t a Chelsea problem. It is Hazard’s. The memories will remain, but the debts will not.