Eden Hazard’s virtuoso FA Cup final performance shows exactly why he is Chelsea’s most influential star

This performance from Hazard was a perfectly-timed reminder of how brilliant he is

If you wondered what gives Eden Hazard the right to dictate transfer policy to Chelsea and Roman Abramovich, the answer was all on show here. Not many employees would say that they are waiting for their bosses to sign “good players” before committing their long-term future to Stamford Bridge, as Hazard did this week. That takes some self confidence in your own ability and your importance to the organisation. But then not many players – at Chelsea or anywhere else – can play like this.

This FA Cup final performance from Hazard was a perfectly-timed reminder of how brilliant he is, and how vitally important to the future of a team facing another re-build and re-brand this summer. For an ominous picture of how lost Chelsea would be without Hazard, just try to imagine this game without him. They would certainly have lost, even to this Manchester United.

Because in a bad game between poor, tired sides, teams who had unperformed this season whatever happened here, Hazard was the only man who stood out. No-one else could provide the decisive quality to win the cup. Not even here, between two of the richest clubs in the country. Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba spent all afternoon struggling for impact, desperately trying to make the difference that Hazard made in his own two connected moments.

In both of them, it was the simple cool efficiency of Hazard’s play that stood out. 20 minutes in, loitering on the half-way line, his first-time control was perfect, knocking the ball ahead of him into the empty United half. Swerving ahead of Phil Jones, Hazard bore down on goal with an unusual patience. He did not need to rush a shot, and when Jones finally reached him he could not get round him, bringing him down instead.

From the spot, Hazard waited half a second longer than he might have done, wrong-footing David De Gea and rolling the ball into the empty half of the net. Never flustered, never rushed.

United had the ball for most of the second half but when Chelsea did attack Hazard was heroic, sprinting alone into channels, after lost causes, trying to beat opponents even when the rest of his Chelsea team-mates were sat back in their own half catching their breath. In the last minute of normal time Hazard had six red shirts around him in the corner but still forced a corner off Juan Mata.

Hazard went off to a standing ovation straight after that, and the knowledge that he had done more than anyone else to deliver this, his fifth Chelsea trophy to the club. He started with a Europa League and a League Cup but it is the two Premier League titles, under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, that he will forever be remembered for. He was Chelsea’s best player in each of those two campaigns, capable of winning games by himself out of nowhere, taking responsibility even when his other team-mates would not.

After Hazard deservedly won the Footballer of the Year trophy in 2014-15, it was always asked how close he was to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, at the narrowest peak of the world game. Those questions have receded over the last year or so. Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane have done more, won more, and earned those questions for themselves. Hazard’s own brilliance has been slightly lost this season among Chelsea’s dysfunction, politics and bigger questions about the future of the club.

This FA Cup win for Chelsea was a perfect end to a disappointing season and a perfect goodbye to Conte. But now the serious questions have to start again for Chelsea, questions even bigger than who will be their manager next season and how long will he last for. How are they going to refresh this squad where too many of their best players are past their peak? Are they still looking at promising players in their early 20s, or those nearer the top of their game? Fundamentally, is Abramovich willing to compete with Manchester United, Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain at the serious end of the transfer market?

But as Hazard made clear last week, no-one cares more than him about the answers to these questions. And as his performance at Wembley made clear, winning the FA Cup, no player is more important to the future of the club than him. Chelsea have to keep him happy, and keep him, whatever it takes.