World Soccer - UK (2019-10)

BIOGRAPHY

like an adult. I knew he was destined for

a super career.”

Thanks to his dribbling skills, explosive

pace and extraordinary elusiveness,

Hazard was born to rip defences apart.

But paradoxically he has always had to

go that extra mile to convince coaches.

Scifo claimed in an interview with France-

Football in 2012 that some of the staff

at Tubize thought he did not have the

physique or character to make the grade.

To a certain degree, the analytical song

remained the same after he joined the

Lille academy at the age of 14 in 2005.

According to Badis Lebbihi, a Lille

youth-team colleague, a number of

officials at the club were not at all sure

that he was made of the right stuff,

declaring: “At the time, I knew he

was very good. However, others were

sceptical. Some wondered if he had

the mentality for the top level.

“Now that he has made it these

same people have changed their tune.

I’m not going to name names, but today

they say that his talent was there for all

to see and that

they knew that

he was going to

succeed. That makes me laugh.

“Back then his biggest problem was

that he was neither a great goalscorer

or passer. His main strength was his

incredible dribbling ability.”

In some ways the young Hazard was

his own worst enemy. He was far from

assiduous on the training ground, could

blow hot and cold on the field of play,

and could be cocky and irreverent – even

to the point of sparking the rancour of

team-mates. A couple of years ago, Lille

defender Gregory Tafforeau revealed on

French TV that early in Eden’s career

two players at the club had struck him

during altercations.

“We’d heard about a tremendous

prospect with the youth team,” Tafforeau

told a SFR sports-channel chat show.

“He was promoted to the pro squad along

with three others and they were a little

too sure of themselves.

“Claude Puel used to insist that we

all wore shin-pads, but Eden arrived

with his socks rolled down and his laces

undone. It annoyed the older players.

One morning,

on arriving at

the gym, I heard

newspaper La Derniere Heure was

feverishly polishing its crystal ball.

“Eden is the sort of artist who doesn’t

come along often in our country,” wrote

Thomas Busiau. “If he succeeds in

stripping down his game and learns how

to let go of the ball at the right time –

the weakness of all technically gifted

players – he could perhaps become

a world star in the medium term.

“He has a long way to go but he has

the potential in his feet, the same mark

of genius as a Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Busiau, whose own life was tragically

cut short a few years ago by a brain

tumour, was also keen to draw the

parallels between Hazard and former

Belgium international number 10 Enzo

Scifo, writing: “The comparison is an easy

one to make. They have lots in common:

build, playmaking class, precociousness

and both were born in La Louviere.”

Indeed, for a brief period the pair

were together at AFC Tubize – Scifo

the head coach and Hazard the

schoolboy-side jewel. Scifo says: “Once

a week, I used to do a session with each

of the club’s youth categories and one

day I was working with the under-14s. I’d

never been in contact with Eden before.

I’d heard some comments about him, but

had never seen him play.

“The session began and after 10

minutes I had to ask the under-14

coach: ‘Who’s this phenomenon?’

He replied: ‘Well, it’s Eden.’

“I saw he was an exceptional player

straightaway. He was brimming over with

quality. He could do everything with a

ball. He was just 14 and already looked

Timeline

AUG 20, 2007

Plays the first of

three games for

Belgium at the

Under-17 World Cup

in South Korea,

against Tunisia.

NOV 24, 2007

Makes his debut for

Lille, coming on as a

sub against Nancy.

SEP 20, 2008

A goal against

Auxerre makes

him the youngest

scorer in Lille’s

history.

NOV 18, 2008

Makes his

international debut,

as a sub against

Luxembourg, and

becomes the

eighth-youngest

to play for Belgium.

JUL 30, 2009

Gets his first goal

in continental club

competition, against

Serbia’s Sevojno in

the Europa League.

Family guy...Hazard (centre) with

(from left) grandmother Nicole,

brother Kylian, mother Carine,

brother Ethan, grandfather

Francis and father Thierry

Young talent...playing

for Belgium under-

17s against Holland

“He was brimming over with quality. He could do everything with a ball. He was just 14 and

already looked like an adult. I knew he was destined for a super career”

Enzo Scifo on Hazard