Not many would disagree that Chelsea rely heavily on their star man Eden Hazard. The Belgium winger has been touted to move to Real Madrid for some time now, and with the transfer window set to re-open next month, that rumoured fire will only reignite itself once again.
However, this time, not only is Hazard being tipped to move to Spain but Madrid’s highly-rated youngster. Marco Asensio is being touted to move the other way in a potential swap deal (with money included, of course).
Here, we will analyse Asensio’s performances for Madrid in La Liga this season and compare them with Chelsea’s other wide players, Hazard, Willian and Pedro.
A General Outlook…
In their respective leagues, both Chelsea and Madrid have had indifferent starts to the campaign, with the latter sacking their manager Julien Lopetegui in October. Madrid have suffered five defeats from 14 league matches this season, whilst the Blues have been on the losing side on two occasions, most recently away at Wolves on Wednesday night.
As you can see from the image above, all four players have played a healthy amount of football during this campaign. Former Barcelona man, Pedro has been the most used substitute, by contrast, Hazard has spent the most time on the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, it is Hazard who tops the goals and assists charts when comparing him with his teammates and Asensio. The 27-year-old has netted on seven occasions this season and provided five assists. On the other hand, Asensio hasn’t found the back of the net since scoring the winning goal against Espanyol in September. That isn’t the only list Hazard tops, he makes an average of 2.9 sprints per game, with Asensio bottom of the list at 1.6.
On The Offensive…
Once again, Hazard dominates the statistics when analysing the offensive stats of the attacking quartet. The Belgian is attempting an average of 2.6 dribbles per game, very much expected because it is arguably the best part of his game. However, Spain international Asensio is once again bottom of the list with an average of 1.2 dribbles per game. The former Mallorca man, who has been playing on the left-hand side for Madrid this season, will be bitterly disappointed with that stat because one of the strongest parts of his game is running with the ball.
In terms of the average times they are being fouled per game, Asensio (1.1) is level with Willian, but they are being fouled far less than Chelsea’s wing wizard (3.1). Another area where Asensio will be looking to improve is the average amount of times he is losing control of the ball. The Madrid man has an average of 2.1 bad controls per game, with Pedro the more tidier of the quartet (0.7), though he has spent the least amount of time on the field.
Making The Pass…
In our final comparison, we look at the passing statistics of the quartet, in particular, Asensio. Once again the youngster’s stats are on the low side. In truth that is understandable because of the pressures he has been under this season. Following the departures of triple European Cup winning manager Zinedine Zidane and the incomparable Cristiano Ronaldo, it was going to be tough for those tasked to continue their legacy.
Nonetheless, over the course of the campaign, Asensio attempts an average of 34.6 passes per game, with 1.1 of those being key passes. For Sarri’s possession-based side, Hazard is attempting over 50 passes per game, with three of those being key passes. In comparison to his teammate, Pedro has thus far attempted the least amount of average passes per game, but his passing percentage is the highest with 89%. In fact, all four have a more than respectable passing percentage rate considering they do most of their taking in the opposition half.
Conclusion
If Hazard decides that his time at Stamford Bridge is up then there is nothing much his current club can do about it. Demanding a very high transfer fee will be the top priority for the London club as will eking as much as they can out of the deal. If that means being able to add Asensio to their ranks then Chelsea shouldn’t hesitate in accepting a possible deal involving the player. His performances are not lighting up La Liga this season, but the same can be said about the whole team. The sale of Hazard will hurt the Chelsea supporters, but adding a player who is years from his best and a highly-rated prospect would dampen that pain a little.
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