PETE JENSON: Eden Hazard is in no rush to figure out his future

PETE JENSON: Eden Hazard in no rush to solve his future, but it is hard to see where the former Chelsea man goes next after torrid time at Real Madrid

• Eden Hazard has had a torrid spell at Real Madrid, but is in no rush to move away 
• He would have to take a significant pay cut if he did find another challenge 
• Clubs in Saudi Arabia or the USA may not be invested in a player like Hazard 

Wherever Eden Hazard was spotted this summer he was always going to be linked to the nearest club. Last weekend he was in Vigo and with Rafa Benitez the new coach of Celta Vigo the Belgian was being touted as their big signing.

One thing almost goes without saying – wherever he goes he will have to take a massive paycut.

Last season he was La Liga’s top earner on around €31million (£27m) gross. At 10 games played (only two starts) last season that works out at over €3m (£2.6m) a game. No one in Europe is queuing up to pay him even close to that figure and a club like Celta, where he would at least be first choice, would struggle with €3m a season.

There would be more money in Saudi Arabia but does the Saudi Pro League want the 32-year-old who played only 76 games for Real Madrid in four seasons at the club? His brand has been irrevocably damaged during his time in Spain. And to date there seems to be no interest in a competition that has snared Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. The latest eye-watering offer was for Kylian Mbappe with €300m (£259m) on offer from Al-Hilal. There seems to be little interest in an upcoming league for a player who has been on a downward curve ever since he left Chelsea.

Likewise in the US the attention has been on getting the glorious Barcelona team back together at Inter Miami. No one has looked to a player whose last great season was the 2018-19 campaign.

Eden Hazard is in no rush to find a solution to his future despite a torrid spell at Real Madrid

The Belgian star will need a significant pay cut, and only limited clubs might be interested

Hazard admitted not turning up in optimum condition when he signed for Real Madrid in 2019

He seems in no rush to find a solution. After four campaigns in the Spanish Capital his net earnings will have touched the €60m (£51m) mark so financially there are no concerns. And he also seems never to have worried too much about his legacy as a player.

In that final season at Chelsea he scored 21 goals for Chelsea leading them to Europa League success. At Madrid he never played a single Clasico in four seasons. Injuries played their part in his underachievement but so did an apparent lack of motivation.

He admitted not turning up in optimum condition when he signed. He believed that he would get fit by playing but that philosophy was never going to work at Real Madrid where you have to have reached a level of fitness to get into the team in the first place.

He needed to have the sort of personality that some of those who have played alongside him say he never really possessed.

His former Chelsea team-mate Filipe Luis once told Mail Sport in an interview: ‘Eden’s the best I’ve played with. He’s up there with Lionel Messi, winning games alone. But he didn’t run to defend much, didn’t train well, and five minutes before games he’d be playing Mario Kart in the dressing room. He trained and warmed-up laces untied.’

Fans of the club also sensed at times that he wasn’t too bothered about applying himself or even appearing to apply himself. When he was seen laughing with Kurt Zouma after Chelsea knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League in 2021 he apologised to offended supporters but the damage was done.

Celebrity Madrid fan Tomas Roncero moaned: ‘I’m fed up with having to watch old videos of him in a Chelsea shirt to see the old.’

If he lacked the drive while he was at Madrid then it seems unlikely he will have the drive to seek out a club now. Some players are desperate to keep playing, even when here isn’t a Saudi fortune on the table. Luis Suarez has gone to former club Nacional in Uruguay and then on to Brazil in a bid to squeeze out some more seasons from his career, despite a nagging knee problem. David Silva left Manchester City and found the perfect place for a swansong at Real Sociedad until injured this summer finally forced him to quit.

Following his release from Real Madrid last month, the Belgian is not driving for a move 

Hazard has been accused of failing to have the drive to reach his full potential, even at Chelsea

Lille supporters would welcome back Hazard but he would need to agree to a major pay cut

Perhaps that call of the old club – as was the case with Suarez and Nacional – will be the opportunity he decides to take. He left Lille in 2012 and they would welcome him back.

Supporters of the club were recently asked if they would welcome Hazard’s inclusion into Paulo Fonseca’s squad and an overwhelming 80 percent of the 4,677 fans polled said they would.

But such romantic returns to first clubs are few and far between and the obstacle is almost always the money. What Lille could afford and what Hazard would play for having been Madrid’s top-earner for four years is an unbridgeable gap.

So with just over a month to go before the window shuts a tentative link to Vigo is as good as it gets. He was there for a wedding so it seems unlikely he’ll be tying the knot with Benitez any time soon. It will be a shame if he retire still relatively young… but Madrid fans will tell you they thought he already had.

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