Failed transfers: Hazard missed his first season at Real due to injury for longer than the sum of the previous four years

Leaving the Premier League as perhaps the best player in the league, he will leave La Liga with the label of one of the competition’s biggest disappointments. Eden Hazard is writing the final chapters of his sad story at Real Madrid, where he has scored just seven goals in four seasons.

Eden Hazard has adapted to the Premier League perhaps the best of the big signings of the last decade. Arriving from French side LOSC Lille for €35m, he immediately repaid the potential.

A goal in the Champions League final at the start of the engagement

In his debut season in 2012/13, Hazard netted nine league goals and assisted on 14. He even scored in the Champions League final, in which his Chelsea fell to Bayern on penalties. Romelu Lukaku missed his attempt.

In the following two seasons, Hazard attacked the 15-goal mark in the Premier League, eventually scoring 14+9 and 14+10. For 2014, he was named the best young player in the English top flight.

31 league points and here we go

Hazard’s best year numerically was his last in a blue jersey. The Belgian international struck seven times and assisted three times in the opening eight games of the 2018/19 season. He continued his great show, finishing with 31 points (16+15).

As a farewell, he won the Europa League for the second time with Chelsea and left the Isles for 115 million euros. Two Premier League titles and one FA Cup and Carabao Cup shone under his name. Plus, incidentally, 110 goals and 92 assists.

The opening injury as a future symbol of commitment

Coming to Real was a big topic. Buoyed by a bronze medal at the World Cup in Russia, Hazard started to make appearances after healing a slight ankle injury, but in terms of play and numbers he was a completely different player.

For the first time in Hazard’s career, injuries began to hamper him. In five years at Chelsea he missed just 21 games due to injury, and in his first season in Spain he had five lay-offs due to five different injuries. And he was out for a whopping 24 games.

The Belgian speedster finished his first season for the White Ballet with a record of 1+7 in 22 games. The rapid decline in goals scored was related to his lack of a typical right-footed shot at the back post. And the only shot he scored was shameful.

In addition to the poor productivity, the overweight

Real fans still had high expectations from the second year. In vain. Hazard had even missed 32 games and when he came on, the crowd noticed his belly. Club president Florentin Perez had already complained about Hazard’s weight after signing his contract, now it was even worse.

Hazard has scored four times and assisted once, and last year he was even present for only three goals (1+2) while playing almost a thousand minutes. Unlike in the past, however, productivity no longer bothered Real fans, he was for them the number five winger who would come into the game when the game was decided.

In the current season, Hazard has only played one game. He scored and assisted against Celtic, but he didn’t score any more points against other opponents. He has intervened in seven games, Carlo Ancelotti does not use him even when he is ready on the bench.

What’s next at 32?

The contract at Madrid’s big club for one of the best players in Belgium’s history doesn’t expire until the summer of 2024. So if Real plan (financially at least) to pay off their worst ever purchase, they need to sell him in the summer.

But the question is who will want Hazard. Considering his retreat from the scene, perhaps a move away from Europe would be ideal. Fenerbahce were tipped in the winter and an offensive spree without defensive duties could suit Hazard. Chelsea’s Hazard for sure!

Source: Transfermarkt