EDEN HAZARD appears to have squashed any rumours of his Chelsea return after revealing there has been no contact between himself and The Blues.
Hazard, 31, swapped Stamford Bridge for Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu in 2019 in a deal that could have risen to £130million.
However, persistent injuries have prevented him from ever getting a long run in the team and this has subsequently seen him fail to perform at the levels he showed during his time at Chelsea.
And having played just 72 times for Los Blancos so far, it had seemed his days in Spain were numbered last summer and even more recently.
Reports of interest have come flooding in with Newcastle, Aston Villa and Chelsea among the most interested candidates, though Hazard appears to have dashed hopes of a Chelsea reunion.
Speaking to Marca, Hazard revealed there had been no option for him to leave Madrid in recent years, and when asked specifically about whether Chelsea had contacted him he reaffirmed this stance with a simple: “No.”
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The Belgian was then asked how he thought the news had come about, to which he said: “I have no idea.”
But while Hazard committed to Madrid for the remainder of the season, he did hint that he would be open to leaving the club next summer when his contract has just one year remaining.
He added: “In January it is impossible, (to leave) because I have family and I like the city.
“But in summer it is possible that I will leave. I have one more year on my contract and it’s the club’s decision.
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“If the club tells me ‘Eden, thank you for the four years, but you have to go’, I have to accept it because it’s normal.
“But I would like to play more, show more that I can play, that I am a good player.”
Hazard will be hoping to make a good account of himself for Belgium at the World Cup in Qatar later this month.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk