Eden Hazard: Media to Blame for Discontent over Lille Star's Indecision

It didn't take long for the football press to get on with their initial bout of bellyaching once Eden Hazard's non-announcement after Lille's 4-1 annihilation of Nancy on Sunday.

Julien Lauriens of Le Parisien broke the news from his press conference, along with a few suggestive exclamation marks:

"

Eden Hazard has told the Lille fans that he...didn't know yet where he will be playing next season !!!

— Julien Laurens (@LaurensJulien) May 20, 2012"

Darren Lewis of Mirror Football was none too pleased with Hazard's indecision, after the Belgian phenom had for so long hinted at a choice between English Premier League powerhouses Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea:

"

He hasn't even arrived yet and already I think we've all had enough of Eden Hazard.

— Darren Lewis (@MirrorDarren) May 20, 2012"

Neither was Tom Adams of Eurosport-Yahoo!, though at least he was sensibly British enough to defuse the situation a bit with a sprinkling of humor:

"

If he carries on like this he'll be the most unpopular Eden Hazard since that pesky snake.

— Tom Adams (@tomEurosport) May 20, 2012"

Meanwhile, Georgie Bingham of TripleMedia.com summed up the collective sentiment (and resentment) of those covering the matter with this spate of spitefulness:

"

If there was a footballing equivalent of a pr**k tease I think we've found it tonight in Eden Hazard. Get off you idiot.

— Georgie Bingham (@georgiebingham) May 20, 2012"

To all of whom and which I say, what did you really expect? Have you not seen situations like this play out before—a young player, on the cusp of international superstardom, simultaneously milking the spotlight and struggling to come to grips with a life-altering decision, perhaps even authentically so?

He is only 21 years old, after all. He wouldn't be the first, last or only person his age, professional athlete or otherwise, to prove himself to be both narcissistic and vulnerable, confident and indecisive.

Of course, most 21-year-olds don't have their day-to-day business followed so closely and with such interest from the ravenous international media. Most don't live their lives under microscopes, through the eye of which even the slightest hint or misstep is magnified into a monumental event that might alter human history as we know it.

If the media don't want to feel as though they're being dragged through the mud by a boy, then they'd best avoid showering him with such unyielding attention in the first place. It would take a feat of humanity beyond Hazard's football talent to have the limelight shine so fervently upon him and not absorb its nauseating heat to some effect.

To be sure, Hazard didn't have to make an announcement of any kind. He could've let everyone know, in a much more discrete way, that he'd yet to make up his mind, that Chelsea's win over Bayern in the UEFA Champions League final threw a wrench into his thinking.

But would that have changed the reaction at all? Would the reporters have been any less disgruntled had the pomp and circumstance been reduced?

Or is the issue really that Hazard "should've" made up his mind already? That football writers should be free to pontificate about how Hazard's new club will fare with him, and what those who lost the race must do after missing out? 

Because, really, this is all the creation of those who covered it and pushed for it and spread rumors about it. Hazard's decision will come when it comes, so let it.

Or, at least, leave the frustration to the ultras who would anoint Hazard a savior or call for his head on a stake, depending on which way his youthful whims would have him go.

Hazard's indecision may seem childish and immature, though no more so than the outsized reaction of those whose charge is to cover (and, apparently, fetishize) a young man's choice, or lack thereof.

Follow @Josh_E_Martin