OPINION
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is someone who is very generous in his praise and he’s not afraid to talk up an opposition player when he feels they deserve it.
However, he was way off the mark with his recent comments on Chelsea winger Eden Hazard. The Reds will be going up against the Blues star on Sunday, of course.
Klopp had his say on the Belgian recently: “On his day he can be the world’s best. He has had a brilliant career so far and he has a lot of the things that I like in football,” he said, as per Sky Sports.
Hazard is a phenomenal player, we all know that, and Klopp was likely just trying to ensure that his players are focused on stopping him. However, Hazard, even on his best day, is not yet amongst the world’s best.
The Chelsea star is terrifically talented, but he still struggles with consistency. He lit the Premier League up at the start of the season, but then went missing for a time. He is back on fire now, but he doesn’t yet have the consistency to be considered one of the finest players on the planet.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are still on another stratosphere to anyone else, while the likes of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and even Liverpool’s own Virgil van Dijk likely top the Belgian in the world’s best player ranks.
It’s easy to fall victim to recency bias with these sorts of things, and it appears that that is what Klopp has done after Hazard’s terrific brace against West Ham United on Monday.
Klopp doubtlessly didn’t think into it this much, but the fact remains that Hazard is not one of the world’s best player, or anywhere near to it, even on his very best day.
