‘In my opinion…’ – Curtis Jones voices interesting take on Mo Salah/Eden Hazard debate | OneFootball

Ask anyone of a Liverpool persuasion and they’d likely tell you that there are very few footballers over the past decade who could hold a candle to Mo Salah, whose future at the club continues to be the subject of considerable speculation with little more than five months remaining on his contract.

A number of Chelsea fans on social media have fought the case for Eden Hazard to be considered the superior of the two wingers, with seemingly everything that one player does being analysed through the prism of the other among some Twitter users keen to stake a claim for their preferred candidate.

The Egyptian’s Anfield teammate Curtis Jones had an interesting take on the delicate debate, one which could risk incurring the wrath of some of his club’s supporters.

Jones wades into Salah/Hazard debate

The Liverpool midfielder joined Rio Ferdinand on the latest episode of Between The Lines for TNT Sports and maintained that, while he believes Hazard to be the more gifted player, he’d rather have Salah in his team due to the 32-year-old’s phenomenal output.

The Reds’ number 17 said of the Belgian: “As a footballer, is he better than Mo? In my opinion yes, but who would you rather have in your team? You’re gonna say Mo, because he gets you goals and assists.”

Ferdinand had a similar perspective to Jones as he replied: “I’d pay to see Hazard first, but if I’m picking a team to go and win a game, I’m picking Salah.”

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Hazard’s output pales in comparison to Salah

Jones is already coming in for criticism from sections of the Liverpool fan base on social media for saying that he regards Hazard as a ‘better’ footballer than Salah, but the entirety of his quotes should be considered rather than clipping just one side of the story.

Obviously we come down firmly on the Egyptian’s side where that debate is concerned, but it’s also fine to acknowledge that the former Belgium international was a fantastic player in his prime and can rightly be considered one of the best to play for Chelsea in the Premier League.

The 34-year-old scored 110 goals and set up another 85 in 352 appearances at Stamford Bridge, averaging 0.31 goals and 0.24 assists per game for the Blues.

Those are decent numbers but they don’t compare to Salah’s 232 goals and 105 assists in 379 matches so far for Liverpool, which equates to 0.61 goals and 0.28 assists per game at Anfield.

It might’ve been a little naive for Jones to have described Hazard as the superior ‘footballer’ to his illustrious LFC teammate, given how divisive this particular debate can be, but it’s important to take note of the quote in full.

We agree with Jones and Ferdinand when they say that, given a choice between the two ex-Chelsea wingers, the Egyptian is the one you’d rather have, as his staggering G/A returns illustrate.