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Eden Hazard has started the biggest rumour of the upcoming January window by stating that he has a soft spot for Real Madrid.
The Belgian has 18 months left in his contract as of now and Chelsea have been trying to tie him down to a new deal. Real Madrid were supposedly interested in him in the summer, as a replacement for the outgoing Cristiano Ronaldo. However, they signed his club colleague Courtois instead and a deal to take him to the Santiago Bernabeu never materialized.
Hazard added fuel to the speculations last month, after scoring his 7th goal in the Premier League against Southampton. He admitted to the reporters after the game that he was thinking of his future and was torn between signing a new deal at Chelsea and moving to the "Best Club in the World" Real Madrid. However, he now seems to have taken a step further towards listening to his heart.
The Belgian was speaking to French-Monegasque Radio Station RMC about life at Chelsea and admitted that he did not want to live with regrets at the end of his career. The Belgian spoke about Maurizio Sarri:
The new (Chelsea) coach (Maurizio Sarri) thinks football like me, so we'll see.
He then spoke about living life without regrets:
The family is in London, I'm also going to be 28. I do not want to have any regrets at the end of my career.
He appeared to be having trouble in coming to a decision:
It's a decision I'm going to make, I do not know when, but I'll take it.
However, his love for Real Madrid was not hidden, again:
You know me, I've always loved Real, even before (Zinedine) Zidane. We'll see what happens.
His final statement appeared ambiguous:
As I said, I'm already finishing this year with Chelsea, I still have a year left of my contract after this year.
As usual, his statements have caused a frenzy and there are lots of unspecified reports coming in about him joining the Spanish Giants, as well as Chelsea making him their highest paid footballer.
Amidst all the drama, Twitter had quite a few responses to the latest developments. Here are some of the best tweets:
Some of them saw the funny side of things:
And others seem to understand the plight of Chelsea fans:
Few Chelsea fans were hopeful:
.... while others were already over him ....
... and the rest of the world's response could have been ....
