Eden Hazard’s Real Madrid dream, nightmare is over

Over the weekend, Real Madrid confirmed that Eden Hazard will be leaving the club by mutual consent this summer after they reached an agreement to terminate his contract a year early.

Hazard’s Real Madrid dream thus officially ends in a whimper, though the dream itself had turned to a nightmare a long time ago, pretty much from the very beginning.

We managed to get Real to break their transfer record when they (finally) signed Hazard in 2019 after a half-decade of constant courtship, but over the past four years, he’s managed just 76 appearances and 7 goals in all competitions for them. (Compare to 110 in 352 career Chelsea appearances.) He’s barely featured at all this season, despite being largely injury-free, unlike the previous years in Madrid. In a way, it’s quite tragic; especially for such a jovial, carefree, lovely, once-scintillating player.

So what’s next for the Chelsea Legend?

Rumors of potential return to Stamford Bridge have been quickly squashed, at least as a player. The 32-year-old is said to be contemplating retirement.

Here’s to better days ahead, Eddie!

Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images