This is Chelsea’s 4th season since they sold Eden Hazard, a very long time in football.
It’s also 11 year since we bought the superstar from Lile, and there’s a strong feeling that only in these last two seasons have we seen our dependence on the winger becoming clear.
We all knew it would hurt when he left, but as he departed Reece James came into the squad and was able to provide a fresh wave of creativity.
Since then, the team’s success has been mapped out almost perfectly by James’ presence. When he’s fit and playing we do alright, when he’s out injured we tailspin. Thomas Tuchel’s brilliant management was able to mitigate things a little, but really Tuchel and James are just papering over the cracks left by the departure of Hazard, who was such a dynamic attacking presence for so long that we built a total dependency on his genius.
