Ballon d’Or winning striker backs Chelsea’s Eden Hazard to win the prize

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Former Chelsea forward Andriy Shevchenko believes that Eden Hazard has all the attributes to emulate his exploits at the height of his career.

The Blues are currently joint top of the Premier League after eight matches of the 2018-19 season and remain unbeaten in all competitions.

Their success can be attributed in no small part to Hazard’s brilliance, as the Belgian has hit seven goals in eight appearances to storm ahead in the standings for the golden boot.

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The 27-year-old winger has been phenomenal in his new free role under Italian head coach Maurizio Sarri, making the difference in the final third of the pitch and emerging as the best player in England ahead of some huge names for rival clubs.

Shevchenko won the 2004 Ballon d’Or award for his displays in an AC Milan shirt and he is backing Hazard to do the same in the near future.

“Why do attackers always get individual awards? Because they are responsible for finishing attacks,” The Ukrainian told Goal on Friday.

“People like to see goals scored. Hazard is a phenomenal, fantastic player, but he wasn’t getting those 20-25 goals per season.

“This season he already has eight, so he’s on the road to that number. He has every chance of winning the Ballon d’Or.”

The Belgium international will surely be a contender for every major individual award on offer in the game if he continues to produce such impressive performances, but there is some doubt over whether or not he will still be a Chelsea player next summer.

Hazard has stated his desire to play for Real Madrid one day – as per BBC Sport – and with the Spanish giants now missing their all-time record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved to Juventus in the summer, the Blues attacker could be the ideal man to plug that gap.

For now, however, he remains very much a Chelsea player and club supporters will be grateful for as long as he is, especially if he can lead the team to silverware over the next few months.

More Stories Andriy Shevchenko Eden Hazard Maurizio Sarri