Eden Hazard is linked with a return to Chelsea. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the French outlet Foot Mercato (h/t The Sun), Arsenal have entered the race to sign Real Madrid star Eden Hazard while Chelsea have ended their pursuit to finalise a move. He has struggled to showcase his quality at Santiago Bernabeu and has failed to replicate the same form he had shown in the Premier League.
Hazard left the Blues back in 2019 to move to the Spanish capital for a fee of £130million. He has flopped massively in La Liga and could not meet the expectations of fans and club alike. Los Blancos are ready to part ways with him even though he still plans to continue to fight under Carlo Ancelotti.
The Gunners have “initiated the first contact” with the Madrid club, in this case, having shown a “real” interest to sign the Belgian. There has been no progress just yet, but Mikel Arteta is eager to add the winger to his squad. Thomas Tuchel’s side was in the race as well, but the recent sanctions have forced them to retreat at this moment.
It is unfortunate that the current situation behind the scenes has forced us to take this stance regarding the 31-year-old. While pushing for a reunion would have had some risks involved, it would have still made for an emotional signing, with the Belgian having lit up the Bridge during his time in West London.
That possibility is out of the cards going by this update but what makes things worse is how the North Londoners want to secure the La Liga star’s signature. Fans would cringe at the mere possibility of him playing for them anytime in the future.
One could point out Petr Cech as an outlier, and should the Belgian international take a similar route, we would not hold anything against him as he looks to kickstart his career once again. But it would still leave a bittersweet taste in our mouths due to our cutthroat rivalry with them.
Fortunately enough, Arteta’s side is not alone as Newcastle United have also been monitoring the Real Madrid attacker. They have started negotiations with the Spanish club for that purpose, and we would much prefer him to go to St. James’ Park.
After all, the Magpies seem to be building a strong project under the new ownership, and the former Blues star could have a stable environment to recapture his lost mojo. He was arguably our best player in the past decade and his exit really hit Chelsea fans hard.
Perhaps signing him would have been an unwise call as well, given his poor injury record in Spain as well as his lack of gametime under Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian looks like he trusts Vinicius Jr more down that left-hand side, and that is never a good look for Hazard.
The ex-Lille man would also be a notable name on the wage books, and if he could not recapture his form from years back in London, then it wouldn’t be wrong to say we made a poor call by signing him- if we do that all, which currently looks like highly unlikely going by the update mentioned above.
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