What would you do? You’re a top footballer for one of the richest and most successful teams in England. You play in the Premier League and you know that opposition defenders are terrified whenever you get the ball. You have won trophies and individual awards and your fans adore you. Life in London is good. You never know, they might build a statue of you outside the ground one day.
But despite all that, your eyes are wandering. You have started to question your club’s ambition. You have never won the Champions League and a lot of people are saying that you have to leave to reach the next level. The argument goes that you have to push yourself in order to be considered an elite player. Don’t sign that new contract. Push for a move. You have dreamt of playing for Real Madrid since childhood and they have a vacancy for a new star forward. Go there, become a European champion, score in the clásico, win a Ballon d’Or, increase your brand’s profile. What would you do? Don’t kid yourself: you’re putting in the transfer request, you disloyal snake.
For Eden Hazard, however, it’s complicated. Chelsea’s main man cannot make up his mind. He has less than two years left on his deal at Stamford Bridge and he knows that Madrid, the reigning European champions, are interested. He has made no secret of his desire to play for them one day and his contractual situation raises the possibility of him leaving Chelsea next summer. Yet although Hazard is entitled to wonder whether his current employers can match his ambition given that they have missed out on Champions League qualification twice in the last three years, the Belgian forward does not know which way his heart will turn.
The logical move is to start looking for property in the Spanish capital. Hazard is 28 in January and he knows that this is probably his last chance to secure a glamour move. Yet he sounded conflicted while discussing his future after Chelsea’s win over Southampton on Sunday. “In my head, sometimes I wake up in the morning and think I want to go,” Hazard said. “Sometimes I think I want to stay. It is a hard decision.”
Most of his colleagues would struggle to reject Madrid. It is how football operates these days. Philippe Coutinho found himself in this kind of situation at the start of 2018 and Liverpool could not convince the Brazilian to ignore Barcelona’s courting. For Coutinho, it was impossible to turn down the chance to play at the Camp Nou. Liverpool pocketed the money, used it to sign Virgil van Dijk and went on to reach the Champions League final. But when Lionel Messi was running Tottenham ragged at Wembley last week, it is doubtful that Coutinho was regretting his decision to leave Anfield.
English clubs have often fought a losing battle when it comes to keeping their best players away from the top two clubs in La Liga. Coutinho, for instance, was following in the footsteps of Javier Mascherano and Luis Suárez. Arsène Wenger lost Thierry Henry and Cesc Fàbregas to Barcelona; Gareth Bale and Luka Modric left Tottenham for the Bernabéu; and it is just over 10 years since Sir Alex Ferguson asked Cristiano Ronaldo to give Manchester United one more season before joining Madrid.
Yet footballers are not all wired in the same way. Hazard, who is not represented by a ruthless agent, is not the pushy type. He is a quiet guy, a family man, and his children are settled in England. He has a relaxed outlook and is happiest when he is having fun on the pitch. He is well suited to playing for a manager with Maurizio Sarri’s attacking approach. Hazard’s creative instincts were often stifled under Antonio Conte and José Mourinho, two counterattacking coaches, but he has been liberated by Sarriball, scoring eight times in 10 appearances in this season.
There is a sense, however, that Hazard has not always maximised his talent. He has won two league titles, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Europa League since joining Chelsea from Lille in the summer of 2012 but has not been past the last 16 of the Champions League since 2014. Even Sarri has qualified his praise for Hazard by pointing out that the forward should be aiming to score 40 goals a season. Does fear come into it? Sometimes people find it hard to test their limits. What if they fail? What if Hazard is out of his depth in Spain?
Of course, this could all be moot if Madrid manage to prise Neymar away from Paris Saint-Germain next summer. Yet it will not be a drama if Hazard has to let go of his childhood fantasy. What should Eden do? He will probably do what he always does: stay chilled and enjoy his life. “It is not like if I go I am happy and if I stay that I am unhappy,” he said. Sometimes maintaining a sense of perspective is the greatest victory of all.
The Guardian Sport
