#3 Eden Hazard favoured a move to Chelsea over Manchester United and Manchester City
It is no big secret that prior to 2012, Eden Hazard was very keen on playing in the English Premier League. When it came down to it, the Belgian midfielder was faced with a choice between Manchester United and Chelsea. In June 2012, the Blues appeared to have won the race to sign Hazard from Lille as a reportedly £32 million transfer was put into place.
It later transpired that the player was very close to signing for Manchester United as he spoke to both Sir Alex Ferguson and Roman Abramovich before his move to England and decided to favour the latter after extensive talks.
“I spoke with Mr. Abramovich, he is very simple and loves football,” Hazard said. “We were on the same wavelength, he wants to confirm Chelsea’s position at the top. Chelsea have made a good investment for me but I did not put any pressure on them.”
I’ve always said I wanted to play in England. There was a struggle between Chelsea and United, but according to me Chelsea has the best project,” he added.
He said this in 2012, possibly to justify his move to Stamford Bridge. Despite underperforming in the recent past, Hazard can be categorised as a success at Chelsea with 43 goals from 141 appearances. He is also one of the few players to be voted as the Player of the Year for Chelsea in two consecutive years. His performance took a backseat in the 2015-16 season when he remained goalless in the League up until April. It was not surprising that he seriously considered a move to Paris-Saint German after disappointing his club.
The current season has started on a positive note for the Belgian after he scored Chelsea’s first goal of this season and has gone to score one more as well as provide an assist in three games.
