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With Cristiano Ronaldo's move from Real Madrid to Juventus, everyone thought Real Madrid and Florentino Perez would set the transfer market ablaze.
Big names started emerging on the wishlist of Real Madrid, they included stars like Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr, Robert Lewandowski, Paulo Dybala, Harry Kane, Mauro Icardi, and many more. Eden Hazard was one such player included in the star studded wishlist.
When Zinedine Zidane was at the helm he wanted to bring the Belgian international to the Spanish capital, and was an admirer of Eden Hazard even before taking up the role of manager at Real Madrid. Zidane in 2015 said,
"Obviously there is Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, both of whom are spectacular, but I like Eden Hazard more. I like everything he does on the field. I like his behaviour, his decisiveness and love to see his progress every year"
It is even said that one of the reasons why Zidane stepped down as the manager of Real Madrid was because he wanted to bring Hazard to the Bernabeu but didn't reach an agreement with Florentino Perez over it.
Even Eden Hazard wanted to move to Real Madrid, and made his intentions clear on various occasions. When asked during the World Cup he went on to say,
"You all know my preferred destination"
He even went on record to say,
"Playing for Real Madrid is everyone's dream. Does Real make me dream less without Zidane? Zidane is someone special, it's true, but I think Real is everyone's dream"
The move from Chelsea to Real Madrid did not go through for various reasons. Real Madrid did not want to pay a hefty fee of 200 million euros in such an inflated market as Chelsea demanded, and also didn't want to disrupt the wage structure. Another reason was that Perez did not want to hamper Marco Asensio's growth, as he sees Asensio as his personal project.
Eden Hazard's start to the new season under new manager Maurizio Sarri has been ecstatic. He has contributed to 8 goals in the Premier League, scoring 6, and setting up 2 in just 7 games.
Hazard also helped Chelsea eliminate Liverpool after scoring a brilliant goal in the EFL Cup. Meanwhile Real Madrid started their campaign in spectacular fashion, but in the past one week have struggled to keep the flow going, dropping 5 points in consecutive games.
It will be interesting to see if Asensio repays the trust placed in him by the president, and if Real Madrid can get some silverware at the end of this season, even without replacing Cristiano Ronaldo. It will also be interesting to see if Madrid move for Hazard in a future transfer window at a reasonable price.
