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What's the story?
This might be one of the ridiculous things you'll read today - especially after the abysmal display Chelsea put up at the Bridge yesterday against Burnley - but reports, including from Express, are spreading like wildfire that Chelsea are not only willing to part with the one true-blue superstar in their ranks, Belgium's Eden Hazard.
I know right... why in the name of the EPL title would the defending champions be willing to even consider this option?
In case you didn't know
In case you've been living under a rock, or have been completely cut off from the interwebs for the duration of this summer transfer window, let me be the first to inform you that Barcelona have shown a slight interest in Phillippe Coutinho.
By slight, I mean of course that the Brazilian playmaker has already handed in a transfer request (by e-mail that too, all these rich footballers these days... no sense of decorum, eh?) and is putting up all manners of Suarez-esque tantrums (reportedly) in Merseyside.
And while Eden Hazard has been linked with Real Madrid ever since Jose Mourinho said he was good enough to compete with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for football's Holy Grail, the rumours that Hazard might make the trek to Catalunya started emerging only post Neymar's earth-shattering move to Paris.
The heart of the matter
Any such potential deal - and I can't stress potential enough - would render Eden Hazard the second most expensive player in the history of this sport... but it would still not come anywhere near what PSG paid for Neymar Jr. Just goes to show you how ludicrously magnificent a deal that particular one was!
Video
In case you are wondering if Eden Hazard will fit in with the Barcelona...
...the lad is good enough to play anywhere in Europe, isn't he?
Author's Take
Like I said in the introduction, this one is hard to believe and it's not just in the footballing sense - where without Diego Costa and Eden Hazard, Chelsea will struggle to make a European spot, forget defending the title - but also in the business sense.
Roman Abrahomvic, and the directors of football he employs, are canny enough business to understand something that almost everyone on the street does - Barcelona are desperate and will pay whatever is demanded... if Liverpool and Dortmund allegedly want GBP 120 million and GBP 140 million for the services of Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele respectively, surely the Blues can seek a lot more for the one man who might come closing to replacing the brilliance of Neymar Jr.?
Besides, if true - and it is a massive if this could be the final straw that breaks the already strained relationship between Antonio Conte and his bosses!
