Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho wanted to make Eden Hazard better than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, a Blues scout has claimed.
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Piet de Visser believes the Portuguese put too much pressure on Hazard, and is ultimately responsible for the Belgian's poor season.
"Eden is a player who has moments of brilliance. Mourinho tried to turn him into an improved version of Messi or Ronaldo, but that is impossible," De Visser told HLN.
"Hazard will never be like that. Eden is Eden, a player with brilliant individual actions, but someone who will never become a machine. He also wants to relax. You should never make him the player to carry the team. Don't make him the captain. Just tell him to enjoy himself out there.
"Mourinho is a winner and wanted to get even more out of Eden. He was already great, though, so why not just leave it at that? Mourinho wanted him to carry the team in every game, to score every match and to be decisive all the time.
"The pressure became too much for Eden and that hurt his game. That's when Mourinho lost it. Hazard went from heaven to hell under Mourinho. That led to stress and injuries. I hope the new coach will treat him differently."
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Hazard was voted the 2014/15 Player of the Season, after scoring 14 times and assisting a further 12 league strikes, but only scored his first Premier League goals of the current campaign against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Do you think Hazard could ever reach Messi and Ronaldo's levels? Have your say in the comments section below.
