Comparing Eden Hazard and Neymar's stats ahead of potential La Liga rivalry

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By Scott Wilson

Published Jul 18, 2019

How do Eden Hazard and Neymar compare ahead of a potential battle in La Liga

Hands up who’s looking forward to watching Eden Hazard at Real Madrid?

The Belgian completed a deal that could exceed £150 million to join Los Blancos in June, bringing to an end a glorious seven-year stint at Chelsea.

Hazard established himself as one of the best players in the world in those seven years, scoring 110 goals in 352 games for the Blues.

The 28-year-old will be a crucial addition to Real Madrid’s attack.

Barcelona, meanwhile, responded themselves by completing the £108m signing of Antoine Griezmann.

Yet there are rumours that the Blaugrana could still complete a deal to sign Neymar, who has informed Paris Saint-Germain of his desire to leave the club according to Sky Sports.

Barcelona’s remaining transfer budget poses a problem - they required a £31.5m loan to help pay Griezmann’s release clause - but players could be exchanged in order to re-sign Neymar.

Hazard vs Neymar

So it calls for a comparison between Hazard and Neymar.

We’ve used stats from transfermarkt, WhoScored and Squawka to collate this information, which compares their career stats for club and country as well as their 2018-19 stats.

Career club stats

Career international stats

2018-19 stats

Neymar managed just one fewer goal than Hazard in the league despite making 20 fewer appearances, although the Belgian's contributions - with 15 assists to go with his 16 goals - were outstanding.

WhoScored gave Neymar a higher rating than Hazard - 8.26 in Ligue 1 compared to Hazard's 7.81 in the Premier League - but it's clear through their chances created that the Belgium international was so important to Chelsea last season.

Neymar completed more dribbles than Hazard did but he was also dispossessed more often, losing the ball 4.2 times per game.