Eden Hazard says Hatem Ben Arfa and Gael Kakuta are the best dribblers he has ever witnessed on a soccer pitch.
The previous Chelsea and Actual Madrid winger was one of many easiest on the ball in his personal proper as he dazzled followers and baffled defenders.
Hazard was extensively thought of to be one of many world’s greatest dribblers all through the height of his profession from 2013 to 2019.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo joined him within the higher echelons, with Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane additionally mesmerisers of the previous.
Chatting with SO FOOT, Hazard waxed lyrical about a number of the all-time masters of dribbling, starting with a French famous person.
“He did issues on the pitch, solely he might try this,” he stated of Zidane, who was his idol rising up.
Ronaldinho, Willian and Neymar are additionally talked about, in addition to left-back Marcelo, who ‘all the time’ had ball with him within the altering room.
Arjen Robben, Riyad Mahrez and Javier Pastore be part of Messi, in addition to Ronaldo throughout his first stint at Manchester United.
“How stunning it was when he began dribbling, tackling, passing legs,” Hazard stated, earlier than declaring his prime two dribbling abilities.
“Hatem Ben Arfa and Gael Kakuta are the 2 best dribblers I’ve seen play.
“They could not have all the time made the precise profession selections, there are definitely regrets someplace.
“We are able to’t rewrite historical past, however for me, they’re gamers who made me dream.”
What occurred to Hatem Ben Arfa?
Having damaged by way of at Lyon, a transfer to Marseille would see Ben Arfa turn into one of the crucial gifted younger gamers in soccer.
He earned a transfer to Newcastle United in 2010 and dribbled previous Premier League defences with obvious ease.
Former Magpies boss Alan Pardew advised talkSPORT that Ben Arfa had ‘unbelievable expertise’, though accidents impacted his Toon tenure.
After a brief mortgage spell at Hull Metropolis, he was launched by Newcastle and returned to France, this time with Good.
Paris Saint-Germain, Rennes, Actual Valladolid and Bordeaux had been additionally later locations, though they couldn’t reignite his expertise.
Ben Arfa final performed for Lille, who he left in 2022, making simply 9 appearances.
What occurred to Gael Kakuta?
Chelsea signed the younger, thrilling French winger in 2007 from Lens, however they each landed in sizzling water with FIFA over the transfer.
Kakuta was handed a four-month ban and fined round £680,000 as he breached his contract at Lens to maneuver to the Blues.
Chelsea themselves had been banned from signing new gamers for 2 switch home windows having induced the participant to interrupt his deal.
He made simply 16 senior appearances for the membership and had mortgage spells at sides together with Fulham and Bolton Wanderers earlier than his 2015 exit.
Kakuta left west London for Sevilla, with a stint at Chinese language aspect Hebei China Fortune following only a yr later.
He briefly returned to Lens from 2020 to 2022, and is now enjoying within the Turkish second tier at Sakaryaspor.
Having analysed the dribblers of the previous, Hazard additionally advised SO FOOT: “There aren’t many nice dribblers left.”
Nevertheless, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Want Doue and Lamine Yamal had been all talked about as the most recent crop of younger dribbling prospects.
