Chelsea send Thorgan Hazard out on loan

Sending a Belgian to the Bundesliga has worked out pretty well for Chelsea Football Club in the past, so why not repeat the trick? Thorgan Hazard, younger brother of Eden, is heading to Borussia Mönchengladbach for the season, news we've been expecting for some time but now has been confirmed by the club's official website.

This is a good move for Hazard, who's spent the last two seasons being far too good for the Jupiler Pro League and Zulte Weregem, but it's also a major step up in quality of opposition (again, though, we've sent youngsters from Belgium straight to Germany before), and it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts. I'd expect him to play mostly as a no. 10 at Gladbach, competing with Raffael for playing time, but with the team in the Europa League this year it's difficult to envision Hazard not getting the requisite playing time even if he can't ease past Raffael in the depth chart early on.

By all accounts, Hazard's signature was highly sought after by a number of top-flight sides, which is pretty good going for a player whom everyone thought we were signing to keep his older brother happy two years ago.