Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Belgian starlet Thorgan Hazard, suggesting that he still has a future at the Barclays Premier League leaders.
"He's a good player. A player we like. He's one of the few players that I travel to see play live," said Mourinho, who has made personal visits to check-up on his progress.
The younger brother of Chelsea superstar Eden, Thorgan has yet to feature for the Blues since moving there in 2012.
He enjoyed a very successful spell on loan at Zulte-Waregem, in which he spearheaded the team to a second-placed finish and earned the Pro League Player of the Year.
The Portuguese coach continued, "We like him very, very much but there is here one player ahead of him who is not bad called Hazard, Eden.
"The best decision was for him to go to Gladbach. Also Bundesliga is good for him to play. We'll see what happens."
Hazard has made quite an impression in Germany. He notched up fifteen appearances over the Hinrunde, although the last four games seen him score once and add three assists.
Mourinho thinks that they still could play together for Chelsea, "They [Eden and Thorgan] can be in the same squad and even play in the same team, one in one side and one in the other.
"We have Eden, Schurrle, Oscar and Willian, we have a lot, so it is better for him to play."
Gladbach had seemingly been close to agreeing a permanent transfer for the 21-year-old, with a fee reported to be in the region of €8million.
Though the following comments from the Chelsea boss suggest otherwise:
"What is going to be his future? Is he staying? Is he coming back? Does Borussia want to buy?
"Do we want to sell to make money for financial co-operations? This is something we have to see step by step.
"If we don't need [to sell] I don't want to. He is one of the players we have on loan that has the potential to play for Chelsea one day."
Hazard will be back in Bundesliga action come January 31st against Stuttgart, where he'll face fellow Chelsea loanee Oriol Romeu.
Quotes via getwestlondon.co.uk