Former Chelsea player Eden Hazard, who plied his trade in the Premier League for seven years has now revealed his strongest opponent from the English top flight.
Hazard named Manchester City’s Kyle Walker as the man who proved to be a menace for him from his time at Stamford Bridge.
The Belgian, after seven successful years at Chelsea secured his dream move to Real Madrid in 2019 for a whopping £103 million. Hazard helped the Blues lift four trophies which included 2 Premier League titles.
In the same vein, Walker too has enjoyed five trophy laden years at City since joining them from Spurs in 2017. The right-back has won a massive 9 trophies at the club so far.
Eden Hazard says Walker ‘stronger and faster’ than him
Eden Hazard came up against Kyle Walker regularly from the right-back’s time at Tottenham Hotspur. Since both shared the same flanks on the pitch, the tussle between them was spectacular at times.
While speaking to the ESPN recently, Hazard was asked about his toughest opponent for the Premier League. The 31-year-old without any hesitancy named Walker, saying, “He’s strong, he’s fast, you know. I am strong and fast, but he is stronger than me and he is faster than me. As a right-back, I think he is one of the best at the moment.”
Hazard lavished praised on Walker who is indeed know for his robust pace. The right-back has so far provided 34 assists in his 336 Premier League games in stints across City, Tottenham and Aston Villa.
On the other hand, Hazard in his 244 Premier League appearances for Chelsea scored 85 goals and amassed 61 assists.
Meanwhile, Walker on his preseason has been talking about competition from Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea’s Reece James for a starting role in the England squad, and about Joao Cancelo in City.
“I feel in certain parts of the country I do, it’s about opinions. That’s why we all like football, just because your opinion could be different to mine. You look at Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Joao [Cancelo], Reece James. We’re blessed in this league to have the array of fullbacks that we do. I just try to go out and do the job, the things I’m good at.”
The full-back further added, “My main objective is stopping goals and making sure we don’t concede goals and get a clean sheet. “Having the competition I had at England and also here at Man City has made me a better player, made me having to adapt my game in a certain way and probably study the game a little bit more.”
Walker and City will be aiming to complete a three-peat of the Premier League titles after successfully defending their crown last season.
Moreover, with the additions of players like Erling Haaland and Kalvin Philips, City will also be desperate to finally lift a Champions League trophy.