Hazard committed to Chelsea – Hiddink
Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink insists Eden Hazard is committed to the club and backed the attacker to recapture his best form.
The Belgium international has been linked with moves away from Stamford Bridge and his father on Friday revealed he was playing through a groin injury.
Hiddink is certain Hazard, last season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year, remains hungry to succeed at Chelsea.
“Everybody has his own charisma. If you see Diego Costa, he is very outspoken. When he’s angry, you see that he is angry,” the Dutchman said.
“Eden is a little bit of a different character, a little bit more introverted. He doesn’t show what he really [feels]. He’s a different person with different expressions, but it doesn’t mean that he’s not involved.
“Sometimes we like to see a little bit more expression, and when it’s more obvious we accept it a bit more easily.
“He is committed so that’s why I defend him. He is also concerned about delivering more. It’s not attitude.”
Hazard’s father, Thierry, earlier said his son had been battling a groin injury for the past three or four months, impacting his performances.
But Hiddink has no plans to rest the 25-year-old ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Everton at Goodison Park.
“We talk with the players as well and measure them,” he said.
“We also have this system where we measure the players when they are in physically good shape, or if they have too much work and they go into a ‘fatigue zone’ where the risk of injury is higher.
“Eden had this problem a bit a few weeks ago, coming back from his injury, of going into the danger zone or red zone. But now that risk is not that big any more. So that suggests he can work on without a big risk.”
