Former Real Madrid winger Eden Hazard has reflected on his career, explaining why he joining the Spanish giants was always his ultimate goal.
Hazard enjoyed a brilliant spell at Chelsea but despite being tagged a legend at the club, decided to join Real Madrid in 2019.
Speaking about his departure from Chelsea on Julien Cazarre’s program on RMC (h/t Mundo Deportivo), Hazard admitted that the idea of wearing white had been in his mind for some time.
Eden Hazard during a UEFA Champions League match for Real Madrid (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
“Signing for Real Madrid was my dream. I wanted to leave even before my last season at Chelsea.
“I had said I would stay, but if Real Madrid came looking for me, I would leave,” he remembered.
Speaking about his unveiling at Santiago Bernabéu, Hazard recounted: “I felt like a kid during my presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu.”
“Before arriving at Real Madrid, I heard many warnings about the dressing room and the difficulty of dealing with the players and all that kind of stuff.
“But the reality was completely different. The welcome was fantastic from everyone, from Zidane to the coaching staff to the players.
“I felt very comfortable from my first day at Real Madrid. Ramos, Modric, and Kroos welcomed me. Everyone was great, and everything went perfectly.”
Real Madrid players say goodbye to Eden Hazard (Photo by Juan Carlos Rojas/picture alliance via Getty Images)
While many fans viewed him as the successor to Cristiano Ronaldo. Hazard, however, never saw it that way.
“I didn’t come here to replace Cristiano Ronaldo. He scored a lot of goals in every game.
“Sometimes I didn’t even score one. I came here to be Eden Hazard and enjoy myself,” he added.
Hazard also addressed interest from Paris Saint-Germain, confirming he repeatedly rejected their advances. “Every year, I was in contact with PSG.
“Nasser (Al-Khelaïfi) was coming, there was a lot of money, there was always a team to play in the Champions League.
“As things were going so well at Chelsea, my dream after that was to go to Real Madrid, not PSG,” he noted.
