Hazard Watch: Lille Sell Star Forward - But Not The Belgian One

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. Ligue 1 side Lille, best known around these parts for being the home of a certain Chelsea transfer target named Eden Hazard, have just sold one of their star forwards to Turkish side Fenerbache. Moussa Sow, currently at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal (although he will return after the group stages), is heading to Istanbul for a fee of around €13M.

The front line of Sow, Gervinho and Hazard was pivotal to Lille's success in taking the Ligue 1 crown last year, and now there's just Hazard left. It's surprising to me that they'd let Sow, who scored 25 goals last season and is second on the team with six this campaign, go while they're in the middle of challenging for a Champions League spot. It may well be that Lille have decided to punt the race for the top three and cash in on their hottest properties while they still can - or equally, they could have decided to sell one of their best players but keep key man Hazard in the hopes that he can get them to the Champions League himself.

I'm tending towards option one, but I think that's because I want Hazard to be available so badly I'm biasing myself. If Lille, who are currently four points back of Montpellier but barely ahead of Marseille, Lyon and Rennes are going into firesale mode, it'd be a shock if the Blues can't land the man who should probably be their top transfer target this window. Interesting times ahead.