Hazard, "an impeccable boy" and a problem of 30 million euros for Madrid
“Madridistas, I've been here for three years with many injuries, with many things…. But next year I'm going to give everything for you”. Twelve months ago, Eden Hazard took the microphone in a crowded Cibeles, in full celebration of the Fourteenth, and made a promise to the Real Madrid fans. The most expensive signing in the history of the white team was at the same time one of its great disappointments. A year after those words, Hazard's reality at the Santiago Bernabéu is even worse. That alarm has become a problem of 30 million euros gross, the highest salary of the entire squad. A problem that Madrid will try to solve, if it can, this summer.
The Belgian has lifted the European Super Cup, the Club World Cup and the Copa del Rey this season, already accumulating eight titles in Madrid, but he has played less than the previous year, much less, in a statistic that is already difficult to worsen. He has gone from 903 minutes in the 21-22 season to 392 in this one, with 194 in the League, 131 in the Champions League and only 67 in the Cup, the theoretical competition for substitutes. At Pizjuán, without Vinicius, Benzema, Asensio or Mariano, he didn't even warm up, a consequence of the poor image he showed in the last chance Carlo Ancelotti gave him: ownership and 61 minutes in Madrid-Getafe on May 13. There, the Belgian did not attempt any dribbling, did not create any chances, did not give any key passes or shoot on goal.
And it is that Hazard, prince of world football before arriving at Chamartín, is no longer even a 'substitute' in Madrid. The Belgian is at the bottom of Ancelotti's closet along with Odriozola, Vallejo and Mariano, the only ones who have played fewer minutes than him. He does not enter the rotation, as Nacho, Asensio, Ceballos or Lucas have, members in the first row of the closet.
The Belgian has four seasons of injuries, doubts and afternoons on the bench that have made Real Madrid and its board of directors desperate, making their situation critical despite the explosion of Vinicius Júnior. The extraordinary evolution of the Brazilian obscures somewhat the gigantic trauma of seeing a signing of 100 million euros and 30 gross contract day after day in the stands or on the band, turned into a marginal piece of a squad that theoretically needed him. Not anymore.
“An Exceptional Companion”
In Valdebebas, where the person of Eden is appreciated, “an impeccable boy in treatment and an exceptional companion”, there is no Hazard soccer player and his situation is one of the ones that will give the most work this summer to the technical direction of the club. At 32, the former Chelsea player has one year left on his contract, but Madrid will try to speed up his departure. Not only because it doesn't count, but because of the constant rush of having 30 million in the stands or on the bench in each game. Both Ancelotti and the board prefer that this position be filled by a youth player who can take better advantage of those few opportunities, but first they need the Belgian's departure.
“What I have to tell you I will tell you in private. If you are not happy, you have to ask the club for a way out. If he's happy, he stays,” Carletto explained about Hazard last Friday. The message is clear, despite the fact that the Belgian has gone from being very clear about his departure this summer to insisting on “fulfilling my contract”. “Sure,” replied the ‘7’ in the Cup final when asked if he wanted to continue one more year at Madrid. Something that in Chamartin is respected, like all contractual situations, but is not understood.
That sentence, rather than confirming Hazard’s change of heart confirms the few offers he has on the table. Madrid will try to include him in some operation, but no one wants his 30 million contract and as much as his agents are trying, as the rumor two days ago of a hypothetical presence of the Belgian in the signing of Harry Kane, there is hardly any interest. The MLS or Arabia could be an option, but never at that price and yes from 2024, a date on which he also does not rule out retirement, once he has already said ‘goodbye’ to the national team.