Madrid was Eden Hazard’s dream, and when it came true everyone was happy: Chelsea got money and Real got one of the best players in his best form on paper. In reality, Belgian ended up playing 31 games in 3 years because of 10 injuries he got in Spain.
Hazard’s career in Madrid is nothing less than a catastrophe, but the club still believes in the expensive investment. We compiled the main reasons why Eden has been injured so often, but the conclusions on his further career you’ll have to make yourself. The only help we can give is to let you consider some bonuses on Bookmaker Ratings here if you decide to bet on Hazard’s potential transfer.
New physio coach
French specialist Gregory Dupont was invited to turn the tide in the team. Zinedine Zidane was so impressed by Dupont’s work with the French national team at the World Cup in Russia that for the sake of his arrival he parted with the former physio coach, Antonio Pintus, with whom he worked for 3 years.
Gregory’s methodology is based on a powerful preseason and extremely intense training. Gregory himself shows everything by personal example: he runs crosses with the players and winds 40 km on a bike.
Indeed, Real Madrid effectively left the quarantine last summer and took the title. In many respects, this is the merit of Dupont. But the magic quickly disappeared: the number of injuries is growing again, and Dupont’s work is openly criticized by colleagues.
One of the main complaints is relapse. For example, the physiotherapist of Real Madrid during the Galacticos era, Jose Luis San Martin, believes that the reason is poor rehabilitation. In his opinion, the return of footballers to the main squad after injuries is too forced.
Habits
Hazard’s biggest problem is the regime. We examined the importance of keeping fit, and Eden has a big love of fast food. The problem has grown to such a scale that at one of the pre-seasons AS even had to photoshop Hazard’s head to Benzema’s body for the cover. Each pre-season of the Belgian began not with a set of playing exercises, but from the weight loss.
Age
In the previous seasons, age helped Eden Hazard. The athlete’s young body easily burned the extra calories . and the excessive weight quickly went away as he began training. With age (30 years is quite a lot for a footballer) the metabolism slows down, excessive weight is deposited faster, but it leaves much harder. And every extra pound increases the risk of injury for the athlete. It turns out that every year the leave from vacation lasts longer and longer, and the risk of injury during this period is higher.
And Eden’s frivolous attitude was not only about nutrition. Filipe Luis, Hazard’s former teammate, recently recalled that Belgian trained poorly and preferred video games to warm-ups. Yes, Filipe admits that Eden is one of the most talented players he knows, but the forward definitely lacks the ambition to become the best.
While you are young, the approach, described above, is forgivable. But over the years, talent isn’t enough.
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Explanation: player statistics (a/b c)
a - games played this season
b - goals scored
c - team position (d - defender, m - midfielder, f - forward, g - goalkeeper).
