The headlines were all written in 2019 on the day he was presented at Real Madrid for £90million plus £40m in add-ons. He would turn the Santiago Bernabeu into the ‘Garden of Eden’, destroying teams with the skills that had made him one of Chelsea’s all-time greats.
But Eden Hazard, who retired on Tuesday aged 32, never really came out to play in Spain.
There was one important injury and those at Real Madrid, who brought him to the club with such high hopes, will always wonder what might have been had he not been kicked by international team-mate Thomas Meunier in November 2019 in a Champions League game against Paris Saint Germain.
In an interview with Mail Sport Hazard’s former Chelsea team-mate Filipe Luis revealed: ‘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.’
Eden Hazard, who retired on Tuesday aged 32, never really came out to play in Spain
The headlines were all written in 2019 when he joined Real Madrid that he’d turn the Bernabeu into the ‘Garden of Eden’, destroying teams with the skills that had made him a Chelsea icon
That paints a picture of a happy-go-lucky entertainer who always believed he could come good in the end if only given the chance. At Madrid things move quickly, however. You can’t ‘get fit by playing’ as he appeared to try to do when he joined.
And once a season goes by when you have not produced there is someone in the queue behind ready to take your place.
When he was finally free of injuries and ready to make a go of things in the first half of last season, ahead of the World Cup, there was no longer a place for him in the team. The phenomenon that is and was Vinicius had emerged to play in his position.
Hazard felt the club, and particularly Carlo Ancelotti, could have made more of an effort to accommodate him on the pitch. The Italian coach could have tweaked his 4-3-3 system to a 4-2-3-1 with Vinicius still on the left of the attack and Hazard playing as the number 10 behind Karim Benzema.
But Madrid is not a player rehabilitation operation, Ancelotti just wanted to win and it was clear that making a space for Hazard would not particularly help Madrid to that end.
Hazard had his chance in that first season when the club were crying out for a player to fill the fantasy football void left by Cristiano Ronaldo. But first his turning up out of shape made it difficult and then came the injury inflicted unfortunately by Meunier, which laid him low just as he was ready to fly.
But that tackle by international team-mate Thomas Meunier (left) in November 2019 saw Hazard struggle to bounce back
The injury inflicted unfortunately by Meunier laid him low just as he was ready to fly
Hazard would constantly struggle with injuries and never got to show his true best at Real
He turned into the outstretched right leg of Meunier whose lunge at the ball impacted on the Madrid forward’s ankle. At first Madrid believed there was no lasting damage and said he would be out for no more than three weeks.
But when the swelling went down and the player still complained of massive discomfort there were further scans and a small crack was revealed. It kept him out for most of the rest of that first season. ‘Judge me by my second season,’ he told Madrid fans but the injury cast a long shadow.
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He had already had a metal plate fitted to the ankle because of a previous injury suffered at Chelsea in 2017. Madrid had, at first, been a cautious in their approach to the injury suffered in 2019 but he did end up needing surgery and a new plate was fitted.
In the subsequent seasons the hardware in his right ankle scarred him somewhat psychologically. It was a constant reminder of the injury. The elasticity, so important to the way he played, was never really regained.
He felt different when doctor Jose Palacios removed it at Madrid’s University Hospital just before the end of the 2021-22 season. But by now he was in his third decade and that natural phenomenon Vinicius was undroppable.
The months leading up to the World Cup did not launch him back into the football elite. Neither did the tournament in Qatar and by the end of last season it was clear that it was all over for the Belgian at Madrid. In his final season he had made just two starts and the club were sick of not getting their £26m-a-season’s worth.
The emergence of Vinicius Jnr (right) saw Hazard’s route back to the starting XI scuppered
He spent most of his time at Real on the bench, watching his team-mates from the stands
There still seemed a chance that he would not be lost to football completely. He was spotted in Vigo last summer and with Rafa Benitez the new coach of Celta Vigo the Belgian was being touted as their big signing. But he showed no appetite for playing on a smaller stage.
The Saudi Pro League were also rumoured to want him but when a player manages just 76 games in four seasons his brand suffers. Someone seen, somewhat unfairly perhaps as the ‘part-time Galatico’ was no one’s priority. And it was Karim Benzema who ended up being the big signing from Madrid.
The impact made this season by Jude Bellingham has thrown back into the spotlight just how unproductive Hazard’s signing had been.
In that final season at Chelsea he scored 21 goals leading them to Europa League success. At Madrid he never played a single Clasico in four years.
Celebrity Real Madrid fan Tomas Roncero once moaned: ‘I’m fed up with having to watch old videos of him in a Chelsea shirt to see the real Hazard.’
His time at the Bernabeu was a sad end to what was otherwise a brilliant career for Hazard
There was also a social media pile-on when he was seen laughing with Kurt Zouma after Chelsea knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League in 2021.
He never deserved that attack but there always comes a point when supporters can’t see the private battle to get fit through the eye-watering numbers – he was paid a staggering amount of money for very little football.
No one at the club has a bad word to say about him. And at his best he put a smile on the faces of fans and neutrals a like.
But the Garden of Eden? It was more Paradise Lost from the first season … and Paradise never Regained.
