Tottenham star admits Eden Hazard was his ‘idol’ while growing up

Dejan Kulusevski has admitted that he idolised Chelsea legend Eden Hazard, revealing that the Belgian made him fall in love with the game.

Spurs fans will certainly not have great memories of Hazard, who always seemed to turn up in the London derbies and often gave nightmares to Tottenham defenders.

The pacy winger was unplayable at his best, regularly making something out of nothing with his ability to go past players with ease and apply the finishing touches in the final third.

The latter part of Hazard’s career flattered to deceive as he struggled to deliver following his switch to Real Madrid in 2019, and to people’s surprise, he announced his retirement from international football last week at the age of 32.

Dejan Kulusevski was a big Eden Hazard fan

Kulusevski has now opened up on the admiration that he had for the former Blues star, remarking that watching him play gave him plenty of joy.

The Swede told talkSPORT: “My idol in the football world is Eden Hazard. He was an unbelievable player and by far, my favourite player. I think football is love. Football is about love and he gave me such happiness watching him play, but not just me.

“He was an unbelievable player and I remember going to school and being happy because he had a game after school, so he changed the days. The days went faster and then when he played I just enjoyed.”

Kulusevski admitted that his one regret was that he never actually got a chance to play against the former Los Blancos star.

The Spurs star added: “I actually met him one time and it was a good moment, but I’m so sad that I never played against him or with him because now I played Belgium on Monday and he’s retired, but the thing that people remember is what a great player he was.

“I want to say thank you to him and wish him all the best for his career.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Putting all rivalry aside, I have to agree with Kulusevski that no player was more exhilarating to watch than Hazard at his best.

Had the 32-year-old had the same drive as the likes of Ronaldo or Kane, he could potentially have been in the conversation for the best of all time by the time he hung up his boots.

However, he perhaps was not as committed to getting the most out of his career as some others, and seemed to play for the love of the game, which he evidently lost over the last few years.