Three summers ago Chelsea sold one of their greatest players. They cashed in player that had gone above and beyond individual levels that had possibly ever been seen at Stamford Bridge for the return of £100m. It still looks like a brilliant piece of business to this day.
The Blues lost someone that had contributed to 49% of their goals in a league season, averaging a goal creating action once every 94 minutes. It was arguably the best season a single Chelsea player has ever had in the Premier League, and that stacks up against Didier Drogba's 29 goals, Frank Lampard's very own 20 from midfield, and a lot of Gianfranco Zola wizardry.
At times it really was a one man team. A pearl of blue, streaking across a pitch with effortless grace, not because he had to, but because he could.
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It won't surprise readers to know that this player was Eden Hazard. Chelsea's mercurial star. Dazzling the Premier League with a fine memento of his best bits all rolled into one glittering personal campaign. Finally hitting the numerical heights that fans and pundits had been asking for.
Hazard's parting gift had a surge of arrogance through it, an "oh, if I must show you that I really am this good" element to it. It was joyous to watch and unstoppable, despite Maurizio Sarri's largely forgettable one season in charge.
During the 2018/19 season, whilst Manchester City were on their way to winning 32 out of 38 league games, a certain England winger was putting his own fine collection of statistics together. Raheem Sterling, soon to be a Chelsea player, outscored Hazard that season, with 17, and also provided nine assists.
It was clear to all that Hazard was at his absolute peak. A level that he had never hit before and one that he hasn't looked close to finding since. In fact, since joining Real Madrid, Hazard has just four goals and six assists in three seasons, not even a third of the goal contributions he left for the Blues in his final season in England.
Hazard started that season as a 27-year-old, the same age as Sterling is joining Chelsea as now. Their stats since 2012/13, when Hazard arrived as a talented 21-year-old from Lille, are comparable and demonstrate the impact that Sterling has had in Manchester, despite a small downturn in output. Sterling scored his first two league goals for Liverpool at the age of 17 that campaign, for a timeline, and didn't turn 21 until the 2016/17 season.
Their numbers are so similar that the pair have scored the same number of goals, 85, in that time period. Whilst Sterling has been a smaller, yet still crucial, part of a rampant City machine, Hazard was the standout player for Chelsea in two title wins, becoming the stud of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte's gorgeous jewels.
England's vice captain has a portfolio of goals, assists, and trophies to rival any player of the past decade, yet there are sections of Chelsea's fanbase that aren't convinced by his signing. One of the areas of concern is his finishing ability, but when comparing basic shooting stats with Hazard in the Premier League, they are once more comparable.
Sterling does take more shots than Hazard did, the Belgian often waiting to be sure of his goal scoring chance before pulling the trigger, but they result in a nearly equal shots on target percentage, Sterling - 41.7%, Hazard - 44.7%.
In a similar vein, Sterling's 2.63 shots per 90 is actually more than Hazard, 2.54. Whereas it takes Sterling 1.02 shots per goal, Hazard took marginally more with 1.04. Sterling also has a lower shots per goals ratio as well. The commonly used argument here is that Manchester City's chance creation volume is much higher than Chelsea's then, and definitely still than Thomas Tuchel's current side. Whilst true, Sterling also takes shots from a better position now than he did before, with his average xG per shot now being higher than it has been at any other stage of his career.
Sterling's creativity is also on a par with Hazard's, though numbers can't describe the way the Belgian would jinx between defenders to make space and opportunities that weren't there before, the Englishman has a far superior total of shot creating actions for this period. Making 570 for teammates, whereas Hazard generated just 388.
Again, team differences, play styles changes and the movements of teammates all have an impact on this, but Sterling is still putting up numbers that truly are comparable with one of the league's best wingers of recent times.
A final caution that has been taken with Chelsea's target is the sheer number of minutes in his legs. This is especially relevant when talking about Hazard as well. The Belgian was almost never injured for Chelsea, missing only 21 matches across seven seasons with injuries. Since moving to Spain he has been absent for 72 matches across three seasons.
Since 2012, Sterling has only missed 25 club matches, being available for every game since January 2021. The main issue here is that there is a worry that Sterling is now entering a stage of his career that could cause long term damage to his body.
Whereas Hazard's foul count was often a source of intrigue, picking up the accolade as most fouled player, similar to Sterling's teammate Jack Grealish, since Sterling turned 21, he has been fouled 331 times, the exact same number as Hazard did at Chelsea.
This once again raises the concern that Sterling could be just one knock away from a prolonged period on the sidelines, and with an expected five-year deal on the table, keeping him at Chelsea until he turns 32, an injury prone player isn't top of Tuchel's want list.
Although Sterling has played over 2,000 less minutes than Hazard since turning 21, his total of 24,142 minutes across a 10 year Premier League career so far does raise a few eyebrows as to how much longer his frame can withstand the constant fouls and demands of an ever increasingly intense schedule, especially with a winter World Cup to think about as well.
Ultimately, none of these things mean that Sterling will go on to hit the same output as Hazard's 31 goal contributions in 18/19, but for all the concerns with his play style and output, the 27-year-old has gone under the radar when compared to Chelsea's former winger.
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