Chelsea star Hazard based a brace as the Blues beat Newcastle 3-1 at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
The Belgium international has been in stunning form for Chelsea this season, with his latest heroics helping them close the gap on Manchester City at the top of the table.
And Souness reckons Hazard now belongs in the same company as Ronaldo and Messi, who have long contested football’s individual awards for the best part of a decade.
“When you think of the players who can take the mantle from the two top players at the moment – Messi and Ronaldo – Hazard comes into that category. He is that good,” Souness told Sky Sports.
“His best years are ahead of him.
“My only criticism of him is that sometimes he’s not bang at it, but when he is in the mood he was today he is unplayable.
“The truly great players become unplayable, and when he is at it he certainly is great.
“You can set all the bear traps and obstacles for him but, like all the great players, he finds a solution to what’s put in front of him.
“He’s among a handful of players who you can say are unplayable on their day.”
Blues boss Antonio Conte was also full of praise for Hazard after his brace today.
“Eden played a good game,” the Italian said. “Today we saw a good link between him and Alvaro.
“In this type of game, when we decided to have a tactical solution, he had more freedom to play as striker and then offensively he was very dangerous.
“He played very well, scored twice, and the goalkeeper made two fantastic saves from him. He must continue in this way to improve himself.”
