It has been a truly forgettable season for the Chelsea fans, but as 2015/16 rolls towards an underwhelming conclusion, the clever money is on the Blues fighting among English football’s elite again next term.

Given the amount of cash Roman Abramovich has splurged on the Stamford Bridge club over the years, and the lofty ambitions of all those in the organisation, another season of mediocrity is not an option.

As such, with Antonio Conte arriving in West London after EURO 2016 and a host of new high-profile players set to join the club, Chelsea are expected to look like an entirely different proposition next season.

This leaves a number of the current crop in limbo, with many expected to be casualties of the under-par campaign soon to finish.

John Terry will not be given a new contract, Diego Costa is being linked with a move back to Spain and Thibaut Courtois has openly spoken about leaving the outgoing Premier League champions.

But what of Eden Hazard?

The Belgian winger’s drop in form and dip in form over the last year has arguably been the most drastic of all of Chelsea’s stars. Hazard has gone from the 2015 PFA Player of the Year to something of a forgotten man over the last nine months or so, and as such is at a bit of a crossroads in his career.

At his marauding best, the former Lille attacker is one of the most dangerous in the business and showed as much in starting every single Premier League game last season for the Blues, scoring 14 times on the way to the club winning the title.

This term has been the complete opposite, with injuries taking their toll, leaving the 25-year-old no longer an automatic selection in the west London outfit’s starting XI. Hazard has started 21 Premier League games this season to date, is yet to score and looks a shadow of the man that terrorised defences up and down the land just last term.

Rumours linking the Belgium international to Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain continue to persist, while the attacker will be in the shop window for his nation at this summer’s EURO 2016 tournament in France.

Looking at it objectively, Hazard has a tough choice to make this summer - as do Chelsea. A new manager could well breathe new life into the gifted attacking midfielder and it is not unfeasible to think that the skilful playmaker could start next season at breakneck speed.

The inevitable influx of top-quality arrivals may well take some of the responsibility and pressure of his shoulders and help the winger to find the form of old.

However, the temptation remains for Chelsea to cash in on their prize asset, making a financial profit in the process and offsetting some of the cost of the countless new arrivals.

For Hazard, a new environment could well be the change that he needs to again reach the potential he so evidently showed last season.

Hazard has clearly developed and progressed at Chelsea, but the talk comparing him to the game’s best players has certainly subsided of late. As such, a tough decision awaits this summer if this gifted playmaker is to put a bad season behind him and get back to his mercurial best.

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