Manchester United: Chelsea Signing Hazard May Be a Blessing in Disguise

Like many footballing fans around the globe, I was shocked when Belgian international Eden Hazard was announced to have agreed terms to join Chelsea for next season.

It had seemed inevitable for a long time that Hazard would end up in Manchester—although which particular half of the city was anybody's guess.

However, with the Blues—who, let's not forget, are the current champions of European football—snapping up the fantastic young talent, both City and United have had to abruptly alter their plans for expenditure over the summer.

The general consensus within the ranks at Old Trafford has been a downbeat one, viewing the failure to sign Hazard as yet another in a recent string of damaging blows to Fergie's men.

But how disappointed should the United faithful really be?

Unquestionably, Eden Hazard is one of the brightest talents in world football today.

His ability to turn a game on its head, as well as his deft touches mixed with bursts of extreme acceleration, make him one of the most deadly opponents to face on the football pitch.

The man is a great player, and any side would be stronger with his inclusion within their ranks.

All this being said, there are still, amazingly, a couple of important positives to take from the whole affair.

The first of these is something that has really gone under the radar, but I found to be a very encouraging sign for United—and every other Premier League side—in the future.

City failed to sign him.

Yes, even with their seemingly unlimited cash fund and recently acclaimed "Champions of England" tag-line, Manchester City could not convince the young Belgian to put pen to paper and move to Eastlands.

United and neutral fans alike have begun to fear City's potential.

With the amount of money at their disposal, they could, in theory, bring in "any" player they like.

Yet for some reason, they failed to do so here.

Perhaps those same incompetent contract breakdowns, which plagued them when trying to sign Brazilian superstar Kaka, are re-emerging?

This is good news for the Premier League, as it means City will not be able to escape the chasing pack half as easily as we might have expected.

Secondly, with one of United's two priority signings now a no-hoper, it allows Sir Alex to focus solely on the one remaining.

Shinji Kagawa may not have the same global pedigree as Hazard, but you'd be hard pressed to find an informed watcher of the Bundesliga who had a critical word to say about his play.

The Japanese international sprung up out of nowhere two seasons ago, and has been a crucial pawn in Dortmund's back-to-back Bundesliga successes.

Factor in the couple more years of play time and experience, and one could very well make the argument that Kagawa is just as good a signing for United than Hazard, if not a better one, due in part to a much lower transfer fee.

Hazard is all but a Blue now, and with this being the case it allows a very determined, and somewhat desperate, United to put their total effort and concentration into bringing Kagawa to Old Trafford.

You would have to be the most narrowed-minded of United fans to conclude that the failure to sign Hazard was a good thing.

It definitely wasn't.

But, it's important after a defeat like this to pick yourself up and weigh up your remaining options.

Personally, I would be delighted to see Kagawa leave the yellow of Dortmund behind for the Red of Manchester.

And as for City, well, maybe they aren't quite the force they thought they were.

Not just yet, anyway.