Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 7y

Marc Wilmots: Eden Hazard has to become clinical for Belgium

Former Belgium coach Marc Wilmots has told Eden Hazard he must continue believing he can score goals and said the Chelsea star and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne can play together.

Hazard, 25, has struck an impressive seven goals in 12 Premier League games for his club this season, three more than he got in 31 top-flight outings last term.

The former Lille man's goal output with his country is, by stark contrast, disappointing, with just 17 goals to show from 77 caps.

However, after three goals in his last four internationals, Hazard has hit a rich vein of goal-scoring form in the colours of his country, and Wilmots wants to see the attacking midfielder become still more ruthless in front of goal.

"He has to become clinical. There was a time he got himself in positions but didn't shoot," Wilmots, who was Belgium's head coach from 2012 to 2016, told L'Equipe du Soir.

"He perhaps was happy just to do something good, and it wasn't enough. Now, he does the same with the national team as with Chelsea, he enjoys being a goal scorer. Before though, he got it into his head that he's not a goal scorer, even though he knows how to score."

Given the talent within the Belgium squad at Euro 2016, their quarterfinal exit to Wales came as a great shock and ultimately cost Wilmots his job.

Belgian media have suggested he failed to get the most out of his star players, and claimed Hazard and De Bruyne, 25, cannot play together, a suggestion rubbished by Wilmots.

"Of course," he replied when asked whether the duo can be squeezed into the same team. "De Bruyne can even play as a No. 8 because he has the ability to play the ball around quickly, whereas Eden is more about individual actions, dribbling.

"He can be almost stood still, turn around and he's off. So they're two different players, but perfectly complementary. They've been playing together for four years. Look at the number of matches they've won, assists and goals they have."

Hazard was the surprise choice to captain Belgium when Vincent Kompany was ruled out of Euro 2016 through injury.

Though the Manchester City defender returned to the national side for this month's games, Hazard has retained the armband under Wilmots' successor, Roberto Martinez.

Wilmots said his choice was far from arbitrary.

"I wanted to give him the captaincy, to give him responsibility. He's still very young, but all that he has gone through from being 17 to now being 25, the title with Lille, everything, it's huge.

"To make him progress more quickly in the national team, he needed to have the No. 10 shirt. I said, 'No. 10 can also go on the bench, it's possible.' The captaincy made him more responsible, that was my goal in giving it to him. There were a lot other players who should have had it, like Jan Vertonghen, but it was to help him grow. That's also the role of a coach: at a time, to give the keys to the team and say, 'When I have left, drive it like that.'"

Wilmots added: "One thing we have to highlight is his constant progression. He came through in France. He likes to joke around, he's almost French in that respect. He's cool, calm. I think he's progressed a lot, and has a lot of good years in front of him to give to Belgium.

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