Happy Birthday, Eden Hazard!

On this day, 23 years ago, a boy was born in La Louviere, Belgium. His name is.....Eden Hazard.

Eden in Lille, 2011

Eden was born to family of footballers. His father, Thierry, was a defensive midfielder at local club La Louviere. His mother was a striker in the Belgian Women's First Division. Eden and his brothers are also footballers, with Eden being the oldest. His younger brother Thorgan also plays football and along with Eden are now playing for Chelsea, only Thorgan is being loaned to the new rising force in Belgian football, Zulte Waregem. Kylian Hazard has joined White Star Bruxelles, a Belgian Second Division Club affiliated with Sheffield United in July 2013, while youngest brother Ethan Hazard continues to play in the youth level at Tubize.

Eden spent his youth playing days at Belgium, playing first for Royal Stade Brainois from the age of four before moving to Tubize eight years later. During his Tubize days, Eden was spotted by a talent scout working for Lille OSC of France. Interested in Eden, the Lille scout arranged a meeting with the Hazards to offer him a youth contract. The family agreed due to the better youth development at France, and both Eden and Thorgan went to France - Eden joining Lille and Thorgan joining Lille's biggest rivals, RC Lens.

Eden joined Lille in 2005 before signing his professional contract for the club in 2007. While Eden played mostly for Lille's amateur reserves side during his first professional year, in 2008 then Lille manager Rudi Garcia saw potential in Eden and promoted him to the senior team. Eden replied by turning Lille into one of the most dangerous teams in France, standing side-by-side with giants such as Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille, Girondins de Bordeaux, and AS Monaco. In 2009 an impressed Zinedine Zidane said this, "Eden is technically gifted and very fast. He will be a major star in the future. I would take him to Real Madrid with my eyes closed." Proof that even in his young age, Eden has turned himself into one of Europe's hottest rising stars. Also in 2009, Eden made his starting debut for the Belgian national team, having appearing as a substitute since 2008.

During his 6 year tenure at Lille, Eden has scored a phenomenal 50 goals and made 42 assists in 192 appearances for the club, giving Lille a domestic double (Ligue 1 and Coupe de France) in 2010/11, and bagging a number of French individual awards. This in turn attracted Roman Abramovich's attention. His Chelsea side, fresh from winning the 2012 UEFA Champions League, needed several new players after the departure of several experienced key players, one of them Didier Drogba.

Hazard for Chelsea against Norwich City

On June 4th 2012 Chelsea gladly announced that they had signed Eden Hazard from Lille for £32 million. A delighted Eden was given the 17 jersey number, previously worn by Jose Bosingwa who left the club to Queens Park Rangers.

Immediately Eden became a pivotal part of Chelsea's 2012/13 campaign, led by Roberto di Matteo and later Rafael Benitez. Chelsea became the first defending champions to bow out of the UEFA Champions League group stage after losing to both Shakhtar Donestk and Juventus, however they returned with a vengeance in the Europa League, dispatching Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan, and FC Basel to advance to the Europa League final at Amsterdam on May 15th. Eden missed the final after sustaining an injury in a league match against Aston Villa on May 11th, but he was there to witness Chelsea defeating Benfica 2-1 to become the first club to win the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League (not the other way round) in successive seasons.

Despite that, Eden delivered several memorable performances during the season, in league matches against Wigan Athletic, Reading, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Aston Villa, Stoke City, and Southampton, as well as a League Cup match against Leeds United. Suspended for several matches after allegedly stamping on Swansea City's ball boy Charlie Morgan in Chelsea's League Cup semi-final defeat, Eden returned in style in a 4-1 home win against Wigan Athletic, before Sparta Prague, Manchester United, West Ham United, and again Aston Villa felt the might of the Belgian winger. Eden ends his maiden season with Chelsea with an astonishing 13 goals and 25 assists in all competitions.

Rafael Benitez left Chelsea to Napoli and Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge, with the Portuguese still trusting Eden in the wings. Eden replied with stellar performances against Norwich City, Cardiff City, Schalke 04, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Swansea City, and Liverpool, becoming Chelsea's top scorer in all competitions so far this season with 10 goals. Will Eden Hazard continues his superb performance for Chelsea this season? Time will tell.