Eden Hazard: I had to stay at Chelsea… it couldn’t end like this

The Belgian endured a miserable spell in 2015-16, failing to score in the Premier League until April as the Blues briefly flirted with relegation before hobbling into the top half of the table.

However, the 25-year-old, who scooped the PFA Player of the Year gong two seasons ago, said that if he ever left Stamford Bridge, he hoped to bow out on a high.

"I want to be the best, like I was two seasons ago. I said – after the season like this – I wanted to stay at Chelsea because I didn't want to finish like this," he said.

"When I was in France (with Lille), I finished my last game with a hat-trick and that was a good time to leave. And if I must leave one day, I hope I can finish good here and be a champion again."

Chelsea are without European football for the upcoming season, with Hazard insisting now is the time to recapture their Premier League crown.

"We've got to show to everybody we are Chelsea, we're big players, we're a big team and we didn't finish in a good place last season. Now we want to do better and win the Premier League. We need to do this."

Hazard received plaudits for his end-of-season performances for Chelsea and his role in helping Belgium claw their way out of the group stage at Euro 2016. However, when it really mattered – a quarter-final against Wales in France – he was largely anonymous.

And that’s the problem with Hazard: is he still a match-winner? A large chunk of Chelsea’s title in 2014-15 was down to individual moments of class from the Belgian. But in recent months, he has often looked afraid to run at players, snubbing a risk in favour of an easy pass backwards.

If Antonio Conte has ambitions of winning the title at the first attempt in England, he has to get the belief flowing through his forward again.