“Explosive” Chelsea signing is now emulating Hazard and it’s not Estevao

They have received plenty of criticism for it over the years, but Chelsea’s transfer policy seems to be working out this season.

Enzo Maresca now has a squad full to bursting with incredibly exciting young talents who look set to get better and better over the coming seasons.

They showed just what they can do in the Champions League on Wednesday night, beating Ajax 5-1.

There were excellent performances across the pitch for Chelsea, including one youngster who did something only Eden Hazard has done before.

Chelsea’s standout stars vs Ajax

While playing against ten men for most of the game, it has to be said that Chelsea looked brilliant against Ajax on Wednesday, and it was their younger stars who really shone.

For example, after coming on at half-time, Tyrique George scored the fifth goal within three minutes of the restart.

Moreover, on another night, he could have had at least one more, as in his 50 minutes of action, the Cobham product took two shots, played three key passes, took 39 touches and looked a real danger whenever he was near the opposition’s penalty area.

With that said, the player George replaced, Marc Guiu, was just as impressive.

The Spaniard opened the scoring for the Blues, and in doing so became only the third player to have scored two Champions League goals for two clubs as teenagers, with the other one coming for Barcelona.

The exciting centre-forward used his energy, intelligence and physicality to make life incredibly difficult for the Dutch side’s defence and certainly deserves another start.

Finally, Estevao is another starter who deserves plenty of credit for his performance on Wednesday night.

The Brazilian wonderkid was all over the place throughout the match, won a penalty towards the end of the first half and then converted to score his first Champions League goal.

On another night, he might’ve had at least one more goal involvement, but even then, there was another, even more impressive player for the West Londoners, someone who emulated Hazard.

The Chelsea star who emulated Hazard

While the likes of Moises Caicedo, Wesley Fofana and Enzo Fernández all put in solid displays for Chelsea on Wednesday night, only one starter was able to emulate the legendary Eden Hazard: Jamie Gittens.

Yes, the £48m summer signing, who has not really hit the ground running this season, had undoubtedly his best game for the club against Ajax, and in doing so, claimed a record previously held by Hazard.

Incredibly, the way the Englishman emulated the iconic Belgian was by becoming the youngest player for the club – since records began in the 03/04 season – to register five plus changes in a UEFA Champions League match, at 21 years and 75 days old.

It was an outrageously impressive showing from the Borussia Dortmund gem, as he was a constant threat throughout the game, whether through his passing or dribbling, and more than justified his Man of the Match award.

Unsurprisingly, his statistics also more than back up the praise he’s received.

For example, in 95 minutes of action, the “explosive” winger, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, produced a combined expected goal and assists figure of 0.53, took two shots, played five key passes, created one big chance, took 45 touches, completed three dribbles, made one tackle and completed 26 of 28 passes.

Ultimately, it was an excellent display of what the youngster can do when he’s on song, and just why the club spent so much money on him in the summer.

With that said, while Gittens does now have Hazard’s old record, it would be absurd and unfair to expect him to match the rest of the Belgian’s achievements, as he remains one of the best players to ever represent Chelsea.