How Eden Hazard Will Transform Chelsea's Squad

Chelsea's £35.3 million signing of Belgian star Eden Hazard from Ligue 1 club Lille will help transform the Blues squad that has many aging players into one with youth and stronger attacking quality.

Hazard and previous transfer signing Marko Marin, who signed from German club Werder Bremen as an attacking midfielder in April, will help inject some much-needed youth into the Chelsea squad.

After winning the Champions League earlier this month, the club needed to come to the realization that repeating their European success with the same squad next year would have been a monumental task.

Chelsea had to get younger in many positions and needed to find some playmakers who could eventually replace club legend Frank Lampard.

With Marin and Hazard, the Blues have two players that can feature in several different roles. Hazard and Juan Mata, who was my Chelsea player of the season, will be a very difficult playmaking duo for opponents to stop next season.

Chelsea will likely continue their transformation into a younger squad this summer with any more signings they make, because several veterans have already left or are expected to leave Stamford Bridge this summer. This means several positions will need to be filled before the beginning of next year.

Per The Telegraph:

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It can be expected that the signing of Hazard will hasten the departure of Florent Malouda, who has a year left on his contract and is considering a number of offers, including a lucrative deal from a Turkish club. Paulo Ferreira has also been told he can leave with Chelsea aiming to sign a new right-back.

They have again been offered Ajax defender Gregory Van der Wiel, who was a target of former sporting director Frank Arnesen.

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In addition to the needed youth Hazard brings to Chelsea, his arrival to the club gives them a major victory over English sides Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham. As per The Telegraph, all were interested in Hazard at some point recently.

Signing a young player with immense attacking talent like Hazard is a huge step forward in Chelsea's future. They needed to get younger and more versatile, and Hazard will help both those areas tremendously.

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