SPECIAL REPORT
When Belgium face Wales in the quarter-final of Euro 2016 on Friday, Eden Hazard will return to where his professional career all began. Well, almost. Lille have traded grounds from the open Stade Metropole for the state-of-the-art Stade Pierre-Mauroy – and this will be Hazard’s first competitive visit.
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Though Hazard was born and initially raised in Belgium, he was picked up by Lille as a youngster and the city became his footballing home for nine years. It was while he was in the far north east of France that his development accelerated and the groundwork was laid for him to become the world-class performer he has been for Chelsea.
“We discovered a little guy who already had an unusual sense of play,” Jean-Michel Vandamme, head of the Lille academy, told Nord Eclair of the 12-year-old player. He had a feeling they were signing a gem.
With Anderlecht circling, Lille had to act smartly to ensure they could lure him to France, and they understood that persuading the player’s parents, who were both professional footballers in their younger days, that their project was the correct one for their son was of chief importance.
“We never talked about money. Eden said: ‘That will come with my performances.’” Francois Vitali, head of youth recruitment at the club, said. This down-to-earth approach would prove to be critical in the player’s development, which was marked by commendable patience.
“It wasn’t as easy as you might think. It wasn’t a fairy tale. He had talent, but he also had to make many sacrifices,” Vitali added.
Even in LOSC’s youth side he was earmarked as a player of some promise, and those thoughts were only made stronger when he excelled with Belgium Under-17s as they reached the semi-finals of the European Championship of their age group. Hazard was distinguished by his excellent work rate in training, which allowed him to build his physique and therefore develop and already promising game still further.
Just as he was maturing on the field as a player, he was able to retain a fairly level head off the park, although that is not to say he was a perfect student. On one occasion, he was deemed to not be giving enough effort to his physical training, leading a coach to call the player in – along with his parents.
“Myself and Rachid Chihab had to play good cop-bad cop,” Vandamme smiled.
“But Eden never went too far. And he had one enormous quality, his honestly.
“I remember one day when we had to call him into my office with his parent. Rachid explained the problems. His mother turned to him and said: ‘Eden, is all this true?’
“And he replied: ‘Yes, it’s true.’ He was disarming.”
It was after he made his professional debut that his abilities came into sharp focus. Aged only 16 when he came off the bench in a 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Nancy to make his professional bow in November 2007, he scored his first goal for the club in September the following season, becoming one of the club’s youngest ever league scorers behind Kevin Mirallas.
“His first steps into the professional game were complicated,” Vandamme explained. “He had talent but he didn’t respect all the professional values. When you’re young and you’re starting in there, you have to raise your hand before you speak. And it’s like that a long time.”
Nevertheless, under the guidance of new Southampton boss Claude Puel and then Rudi Garcia, Hazard became a regular and then a star.
His performances during the 2008-09 campaign were stellar and he was rewarded with the prize for the league’s outstanding young prospect. It was amply deserved, as he was quickly establishing himself as a decisive figure. Against Lyon in the Coupe de France he gave his first truly virtuoso display in the professional game, setting up two goals and scoring a superb winner in a 3-2 victory.
It was during this season that he made his Belgium debut, as he appeared off the bench against Luxembourg. He became their seventh youngest international ever, even beating the great Enzo Scifo by a matter of days. Although Hazard had to wait three years before scoring his first goal for the Red Devils, they have won 13 of the 14 matches in which he has found the net and drew the other.
Unsurprisingly, big clubs were starting to take notice of his talents. Arsenal and Bayern Munich were both associated with moves for the player, with no less than Zinedine Zidane praised the prodigious young attacker.
“He’s very quick, very clever and he could become a great footballer,” the France great told Marca in 2010. “I would sign him for Real Madrid with my eyes closed.”
And Hazard was able to live up to the expectation, steadying improving his efficiency both in terms of scoring and setting others up. Perhaps surprisingly, he was not in a hurry to push his career to the next level.
“He has very good counsellors around him,” LOSC president Michel Seydoux said as the 2009-10 season was drawing to a close and transfer rumours were building against. “He has learned at Lille and he wants to stay here. He knows very well that he can progress here.”
Lille would retain Hazard for one last hurrah. In his final season in northern France, he blossomed. After scoring 20 goals in 38 league games, he led his side to a first Ligue 1 title in close to 50 years and added the Coupe de France to boot.
He had hit a glass ceiling at Lille, and even with the promise of the great new ground to move into in August and Champions League football, the lure of Chelsea for a fee of £32 million proved too strong.
“He has said that he would like to see him play in the new stadium, and we want to see the new ground with Eden Hazard on the pitch,” Seydoux said in 2010.
When the Belgian takes the field against Wales, his dream will be fulfilled, though not perhaps in the manner he had envisaged. Nevertheless, Lille retains a terrific affection for Hazard, and that is replicated by the player, who now finally has his opportunity to make his own piece of history at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
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