One of the perennial links of recent transfer windows has been Chelsea forward Eden Hazard moving to Spanish giants Real Madrid. The story never seems to go away.
However, it seems everything might fall into place for the transfer to happen this summer. Real Madrid are looking to fill the massive hole in their team left by Cristiano Ronaldo and could use the £110million received for Ronaldo to attempt to sign Hazard. A mooted fee of around £150million has been bandied about in both the British and the Spanish press.
Real Madrid reportedly confident of signing Hazard
According to Spanish publication Don Balon, Real Madrid are confident of tying up a big money move to sign Hazard in the next week or so.
This has probably been the case in the past too. However, in the past Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale were the undisputed front three for Los Blancos. It seemed unlikely that a new high profile forward would arrive, without one of the trio leaving.
That has now happened, and it seems almost inevitable that the European champions are going to sign a high-profile replacement this summer.
What works in the Spaniard’s favour is that Hazard has cast doubts over his Chelsea future recently.
In fact, at the World Cup, Hazard himself said that he wants to ‘discover something different’. With reported interest from Real Madrid’s arch-rivals Barcelona and Premier League Manchester City, Los Blancos have competition. However, he has also hinted in the press that he would like to move to the Spanish capital.
Chelsea will be unwilling sellers
Understandably, Chelsea will not want to lose one of their star players this summer. New boss Maurizio Sarri has only just arrived at the club, and he could have a major issue to deal with when it comes to Hazard.
When talking about his future, Hazard stated that Chelsea would make the final decision on what happens. However, the Blues are unlikely to want him to leave, but they are also unlikely to want an unhappy player on their hands.
According to reports from Spain, Chelsea are willing to negotiate with Real Madrid over a deal for the forward. I do believe that the Blues will only sell if the price is right, though. Hazard has two years left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, so Chelsea are not desperate to cash in on the Belgian international.
However, they are unlikely to earn a bigger fee than they will this summer for the forward, as next summer he will be going into the last year of his deal at the club, then teams will try to sign him a cut-price deal.
Hazard can still develop further
Eden Hazard has shown during his time at Chelsea and with the national team just what he can do. The forward has dazzling skills that get fans excited, and he seems like an ideal player to replace Ronaldo, even if there could never be a direct replacement for the Portuguese star.
At 27-years-old, he can still develop further, and maybe the slightly less arduous Spanish top-flight will allow him to get even better as a player. It seems the bookmakers believe that this deal will finally happen this summer, as Hazard is odds of 1/ 2 to be a Real Madrid player by the end of the summer transfer window, shorter odds than staying at Chelsea.
Therefore, it seems that Eden Hazard could be closer than ever to be leaving Chelsea and joining Real Madrid. It will be interesting to see how this story develops over the next week or so, as any move is likely to have a domino effect with the Blues potentially needing a replacement for the Belgian international.
Will Eden Hazard be plying his trade at Real Madrid next season?
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