Eden Hazard has retired from football at the age of 32.
A relatively young age for a footballer to call it a day, it has led fans to say “it is because he played too much too young” and “this is is a warning for Arsenal and Bukayo Saka”.
But whilst Hazard retired at a young age, it does not mean that he was young in football years. And as a result, should Arsenal fans be worried if Saka ends up retiring at 32?
Football years
When I talk about football years, I am talking about how many years a player has regularly played senior, professional football. How many football years you are is perhaps more important than Earth years you have lived when it comes to establishing if a player has retired early.
Hazard began playing regularly for Lille in 2008, at the age of 17. He has retired half way through his 15th top flight season. That is 14 full football years he played for.
When you consider that, on average, a players top level career tends to be 8-11 years, than playing for 14 years is a longer career than normal.
Game played
It is not just about how many years you play, but also how many games you play.
Hazard retires having played 622 times for club and a futher 126 games for his country. A total of 748 games.
Lets compare that to Riyad Mahrez, who is the same age.
Mahrez has played 85 games less than Hazard. That is basically 2 seasons less. Mahrez is now in semi-retirement in Saudi Arabia
If Mahrez plays for 2 more seasons beyond this one, he will be 35-years-old and likely breach that 750 game mark. No one would say he is retiring early if he decided to give it up then.
What football years and games played data show is that Hazard has not retired early, he has merely played as many season and as many games as you would expect a winger to play. He just did them from the ages of 17-32 rather than 20 to 35.
If Saka plays for 14-years at the top level, and hopefully for Arsenal, than I am sure we will all agree that he would have had a fantastic career.
He would have been playing for us from 2019 to 2033. That is another 10-years and would represent 14 seasons of being a first team regular.
Training
No two players are built the same.
Eden Hazard’s career had been plagued by comments about his bad attitutde to training.
Joe Mourinho called him “an amazing player with awful training” whilst former teammate John Obi Mikel said that Hazard “did not like to train hard“.
In 2017, ex-Lille defender Gregory Tafforeau spoke about Hazard’s attitude to training when he first joined the senior team as a 16-year old: “He turned up for his first Lille training session with his socks rolled down, his laces undone and without shinpads. As for his standard, he trained as though he was a club veteran”.
Hazard always seemed to return from the summer break a little bit overweight. He clearly did not look after himself when not playing. He had the mentality of a player of yesteryear, a Gazza-type.
It seemed to get worse at Real Madrid where he never looked fit in the 3-years he was with them for.
Saka, meanwhile, has the same mentality of a Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He does “extra little things” in training that seperates him from the rest.
Weight issues
Hazard’s fitness issues in his later career, like Wayne Rooney, had nothing to do with his age and everything to do with how he looked after himself.
I grew up watching Ricky Hatton. The boxing legend would not look after himself between fights and would put on a lot of weight. Eventually the cycle of having to lose weight rapidly took its toll on his power and his career. At 31 he was pretty much done as a boxer.
You compare than to Floyd Mayweather who was the ultimate professional and never had a pound of fat regardless of whether he was in training camp or between fights. Mayweather would continue fighting at the highest level until he was 38.
There is a lot to be said for how you look after yourself, and your natural body make up – some players are just not naturally as fit as others.
A more natural athlete than Hazard, Saka will naturally be able to go on longer.
Honours
5 league titles
5 domestic cups
1 Champions League
2 UEFA Cups
Eden Hazard has had a glittering career and basically won almost every club-level competition available to him.
if Saka finishes his career with that sort of trophy haul, I am sure we will all be very happy.
Hazard’s main issue is not that he played too much too young. It is that he did not look after his body or work hard enough on fitness in training. But despite this, he was still at the top for 14-seasons.
If Saka is a one-club-man throughout his career, and plays the same 622 games as Hazard, he would be 3rd on our all-time appearances list. One ahead of Geordie Armstrong, with only Tony Adams and David O’Leary ahead of him.
We should not be concerned about Saka burning out at 32.
If he does, he would have had a fantastic career and one which some 35 or 36 year olds could only dream of.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 