What's next for Eden Hazard?

In the summer of 2019, a year after Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from Real Madrid, the Spanish top team seemed to have found their new star: Eden Hazard.

Real Madrid paid 115 million euros for Hazard and gave him a superstar salary (23.1 million euros), but the Belgian magician's response was dismal: 76 appearances and 4 goals in the four seasons he spent in the Spanish capital. That's just 19 games per year, and many of them as a substitute.

Real Madrid allowed Hazard to honour his contract but, as of 30 June 2023, the player and the club have parted ways. The transfer window is about to close, and the Belgian star is still without a team. What is he going to do?

According to Spanish newspaper AS, Eden Hazard is considering the option of retiring from professional football.

To put things in perspective, Hazard was born on 7 January 1991, while Cristiano Ronaldo was born on 5 February 1985. While one is considering hanging up his boots, the other is the second top scorer in 2023 in the Saudi Pro League, the fastest-growing league at present.

And here is the big difference between Hazard and CR: the willingness to make sacrifices because in terms of talent, they are very similar, but the Belgian has never worked as hard as the Portuguese.

Hazard's former Chelsea team-mate John Obi Mikel went as far as to say that the Belgian is "the laziest footballer I've ever seen".

In fact, Hazard's confession to Belgian Sport/Foot Magazine, acknowledging that he arrived at Real Madrid overweight, will be remembered for a long time. "I gained five kilos in the summer. I weighed 80 kilos". And that was the summer he was signed by Real Madrid.

This is the only way to explain why Hazard will go (or is considering going) from being Real Madrid's highest-paid star to retiree, at the age of just 32.

However, he has not been short of offers. According to Spanish newspaper AS, the Belgian has been approached by his former club Lille and Inter Miami, as well as clubs in England, Spain, Scotland and, of course, Saudi Arabia, but he has rejected all offers, at least for the moment.

That his time at Real Madrid has impacted his self-confidence is something that everyone is aware of, but if there was one thing Chelsea's Hazard had, apart from a pound or two to spare, it was confidence. It's a pity Madrid never saw the best Hazard.