After Chelsea’s 4-1 Europa League final victory over fellow English club Arsenal, Eden Hazard sent a pretty straight forward message to the Chelsea fans: “I think it’s a goodbye.” This is after many months of linking the Belgian forward to Real Madrid with many sources saying it’s all but done but it’s not confirmed yet.
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 18: Eden Hazard of Chelsea control ball during the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final Second Leg match between Chelsea and Slavia Praha at Stamford Bridge on April 18, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
He’s likely to occupy Cristiano Ronaldo’s old shirt number with the number 7 if Mariano is to move on this summer. There is also news that Eden Hazard’s wife is in Madrid with their children looking at houses and schools for the family with Eden supposedly joining them soon. The fee is supposedly around £115m and the Belgian winger is likely to have a big wage on top of that.
Who is Eden Hazard?
Eden Hazard was born in Belgium on the 7th of January 1991 into a football loving family. His father was a semi-professional footballer for La Louviere in the Belgian second division as a defensive midfielder whilst his mother played as a striker in the Belgian women’s first division. His mother stopped playing when she was three months pregnant with Eden. Eden is the oldest of 4 children in his family and all of which play football.
Eden started in the youth academy of Belgian club Royal Stade Brainois for eight years before joining Tubize’s academy in 2003 then finally joining Lille’s academy in 2005. Eden Hazard was then promoted to Lille’s first team in 2007 scoring 36 goals in 147 appearances. He won 1 French League title and a French Cup before securing a big money move to Chelsea in 2012 for £31.5m. Since joining Chelsea he’s won 2 Premier League titles, 2 Europa League titles, 1 FA Cup and 1 League Cup along with individual honours such as PFA Player of the year and PFA Young Player of the year.
Hazard himself has stated his desire to play for Real Madrid over the years with some fans speculating that he’s wanted to leave for a long time. In fairness to Hazard though he’s been a true professional over the years being 100% committed to Chelsea and giving his all in every game putting up great numbers over the 245 appearances scoring 85 goals.
He’s also been a key figure for Belgium over the years helping them to their best ever finish in the 2018 World Cup finishing third scoring 3 goals in the campaign. He has also made 100 appearances for the National team over the years scoring 30 goals which are incredible numbers for a winger.
It’s clear that Eden Hazard is a serial winner and has the trophies and statistics to back this up and it’s obvious as to why Real Madrid want such a player in their ranks. Even though Madrid have had a tough season since Cristiano Ronaldo left, they’re still a huge club with a great pedigree and will want to get things back on track next season under “new” manager Zinedine Zidane.
