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Eden Hazard’s former representative John Bico has revealed that the Belgian wanted to join Arsenal in 2012, but ended up at Chelsea instead.
Hazard was one of the best young players in Lille back in 2012, and was on several clubs’ radar as they wanted him in their team. Arsenal and Chelsea were two of the teams, and Hazard preferred a move to the Gunners.
Bico has explained that Hazard and his family wanted a move to Arsenal, but he decided to veto the move, and the Belgian attacker understood his decision at the time.
“It was his number one choice. His father’s number one choice too. But for me, it was a categorical refusal even when I really like this club, its history.
“Except that at the time, there were too many young people and too many French people. It would have been a little like Lille. Eden accepted this veto. Hardly, but he did.
“Arsenal would have been a decision of the heart but not that of a man even if it costs me to say that. With the environment there, I’m not sure he would have reached the same maturity as a man but also as a player.”
Eden Hazard made the right decision to join Chelsea and not Arsenal
The Gunners have fallen apart since Arsene Wenger’s departure, and are no longer the force they once were some 15 years ago.
Under Wenger in the 2010s, Arsenal were forced to sell some of their best players, and could not keep up with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United in terms of challenges for the league title.
Hazard perhaps made the right choice to listen to Bico’s advice, as he matured as a player and a leader at Chelsea, and eventually led them to the Premier League title.
The Belgian also won the PFA Player of the Year award while at Chelsea, and after a trophy-laden spell with the Blues, he joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2018.
Arsenal had signed Gervinho a year before Hazard joined Chelsea, but the Ivorian never really fulfilled his potential at the Emirates.
