"Hazard has become a joke"
Eden Hazard has again been left out of Zinedine Zidane’s squad and the situation has now become irritating.
I know that he may finally have minutes against Valladolid at home on Wednesday or against Levante away next weekend. But that doesn't sit well with me. The damage he has done to the team can no longer be excused.
The season began with two demanding games against Socieded (0-0 last week) and Betis this weekend and the €100-million Belgian star has not been available to help the team for either.
And the problem is not his ankle. It is because of his lack of commitment during the summer break period, after which he returned the same way he arrived last summer when he signed for what we believed to be the team of his “dreams” – overweight and totally out of shape. There is no other way to put it.
Where is the Hazard we saw at Chelsea?
At Chelsea, we all fell in love with his dizzying football, devilish dribbling and explosive runs. But at Madrid we haven’t seen anything of the sort. You have to watch clips of him in 'blue' to enjoy his talent. Because in 'white' we only know that he has a high-risk ankle and chronic problems getting into shape. I feel cheated and frustrated by his lack of commitment.
A player with pride would have told Zidane on Friday morning at the training ground: “Boss, I'm tired of my mistakes. I owe Madridismo respect. Take me to Seville because tomorrow I'm going to leave my heart on the pitch against Betis.”
But no, instead he continues being photograph at training before watching another Madrid game at home on television while his teammates give it their all for him.
This was not the plan when he was signed last summer and 50,000 excited Madrid fans turned out to see him at his presentation at the Bernabéu. Being a Madrid player is not a joke but Hazard’s situation is becoming a big one.