Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez and Raheem Sterling are three of the best attack midfielders / wingers in European football. The deadly trio other than being similar in height, posses devastating pace with vision to create and score, invariably this makes their opponents panting whenever they are in sight on the football pitch. With the respective team plan built around these three lynchpins, on their day they can turn the tide in their teams favor. With the explosive start these three have achieved so far as mentioned below, they are surely destined for glory and accolades ahead in their career.
Alexis Sanchez
Let’s begin with Alexis Sanchez, the oldest of the lot, at 26 his career has already seen the highs and low one witnesses in the world of football. A product of Cobreloa’s youth system in South America, Sanchez took rapid step towards stardom. He was picked by Udinese and after completing a loan spell at Colo-Colo he came back to storm the Serie A, while forming a lethal partnership with Italian Antonio Di Natale. From Udinese Sanchez moved to Barcelona before being strongly linked to Sir Alex’s led Manchester United side. His start at Camp Nou was initially marred with injuries but whenever he got a decent run of games he produced quality on the pitch. In the three seasons he spent with the Catalan giants, Sanchez scored 47 goals in 141 appearances throughout all competitions.
Although he was great value for money, he reportedly had a fall out with a fellow South American star in Barcelona and hence made the move and joined Arsenal. His start to life in English Football does suggest he has always belonged here. With an electric goal scoring record and assists he is already hailed as the next heir to the throne of King Thiery Henry.
Eden Hazard
Some players are blessed with football in their genes, Eden hazard is definitely one of them as his parents were footballers. The Belgian caught the eye of all the top clubs of Europe while he was plying his trade at Lille. If reports are to be believed he was on his way to Old Trafford before Chelsea pounced on the opportunity and signed him. At the age of 24, Eden Hazard is putting stellar performances at Stamford Bridge one season after the other. His ball control, vision, low centre of gravity and goal scoring ability from any part of the pitch already has drawn comparisons with the two leading men of world football.
He is yet to win the league with Chelsea, but if he continues his current form he will be the catalyst in Chelsea winning the title this season. With ability and age on his side, Eden Hazard will definitely be knocking on the door to super stardom soon.
Raheem Sterling
With the old guard making way for the young blood at Liverpool FC, the opportunity is there for 20 year old Raheem Sterling to go down the history books as one of the best players to have represented Liverpool. With the recent announcement of Stevie G moving away from the club, in all likelihood the Liverpool team will be built around the talented Raheem Sterling. He started his career with Queens Park Rangers, but his ability created buzz around English Football and he was signed by Rafa Benitez in 2010.
His stature in the Liverpool team has sky rocketed under Brendan Rodgers and he is on the brink of signing a new contract, which will ward off interest from Real Madrid and will show Liverpool’s intent in building the team around him. He was electrifying last season while assisting Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in creating havoc in oppositions rank, although he had an indifferent start to this campaign we are sure he will be one of the best players in Europe in the next couple of years.
Trio’s Head to head clash this season
If we look at the teams in English Premier League, this season has all been about Chelsea, for good or bad reasons, and if we talk about players there is no one who has created an impact as the Chilean Alexis Sanchez. Liverpool wanted to buy him in the summer transfer window before Alexis pulled the plug and choose Arsenal and he has been inspirational figure at the Emirates.
While he has played a game less than Hazard, Alexis Sanchez has scored 12 goals while assisting in another 7, whereas Hazard has scored 8 & assisted in 4 goals while Sterling has 4 goals and 4 assists to his name. In terms of pass completion percentage Eden Hazard can’t better his statistics as he has a 100% completion rate in comparison to Sterling’s 91% and Sanchez’s 88%. While all the three are usually played in advance attacking roles the work rate of Alexis Sanchez is brilliant, as he has won 30 tackles on the pitch in comparison to a lesser number for the other two.
However we can never rely completely on statistics in Football, as it would be clear that Hazard’s contribution along with his team mates have put Chelsea on the summit of the Premier League, whereas Alexis Sanchez is part of a weak Arsenal side which keeps stuttering every now and then, but as we are talking about individual contribution and impact, Alexis Sanchez wins this round.
Data Source: Squawka.com
Image Source: Skysport