Eden Hazard has said that he would like to play under Jose Mourinho again, and now we have confirmation that the feeling is indeed mutual. The Chelsea forward, who won a Premier League title and PFA Player of the Year award under Mourinho in 2014-15, said over international break that the current Manchester United manager is the one boss that he would like play for again.
Today, during his news conference ahead of tomorrow’s huge United at Chelsea league clash, Mourinho was asked about Hazard’s comments. He responded as follows:
“I would love to have him in Manchester United but I don’t think Chelsea will sell him to Man United so it’s a not problem. Chelsea is led by intelligent and experienced people in football and they would never sell Eden to Man United.”
(video of the embargoed portion of Mourinho’s news conference today is below)
Prior to this specific Q&A, Mourinho was asked to assess Chelsea as a team, and how their season has gone thus far. It wasn’t long until he brought the 27-year-old Belgian, who many believe is the best player in the league right now.
“Their results speak by themselves. Obviously they are not playing Champions League. And that puts them just on the Premier League and in the Premier League the results speak for themselves,” said Mourinho.
“Very good results, top of the league and of course lots of good players, but history says that when Eden Hazard is the best player of the Premier League, Chelsea is the champion.”
“It happened with me and Antonio [Conte], and this season, it is still the beginning of course, but if he is the best player of the Premier League until now, which I think he is until now, Chelsea is top of the league because he is the kind of player who can make a huge difference.”
It doesn’t look like Hazard is going anywhere right now, and even if he was to leave Stamford Bridge, you can be almost certain that his destination wouldn’t be Old Trafford.
Still it makes for interesting discussion, and the meeting between the two men on the touchline tomorrow will definitely be one worth watching.
Chelsea vs Manchester United FYIs
Maurizio Sarri Press Conference Video/Quotes: go to this link
United starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Chelsea starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Injury Report: go to this link
Odds via Bwin: United 17/4, Draw 11/4, Chelsea FC 7/10
Kickoff: Saturday October 20, 12:30 BST, Stamford Bridge
Prediction: Chelsea FC 2, United 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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