Chelsea look to sell Eden Hazard for £100 million to Real Madrid, with the Belgian set to enter the last 12 months of his contract in the summer.
If the reports by The Sun are to be believed, Chelsea have slapped a £100 million price tag on the Belgian attacker even in the last year of his contract at Stamford Bridge.
Real Madrid are currently looking to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus last summer. Santiago Solari has the 28-year-old in his sights as a possible replacement for the Portuguese.
If they bring in the Belgian maestro to Madrid, the club would have smashed their previous transfer record of Gareth Bale in 2013 for £86 million. The European champions are currently cash strapped as the majority of their funds have been diverted towards the renovation of Santiago Bernabéu stadium for a staggering £350 million.
Hazard has shown no interest to stay at Chelsea any longer, with all talks for a contract extension proving futile. Chelsea in the meanwhile are looking at other targets which includes the Italian Gonzalo Higuain.
The Blues have just spent a whopping £58 million on Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic, whose contract at Stamford Bridge is expected to run unto 2020. The Premier League side value the Belgian at nearly twice the price of the American.
Without the necessary the cash in the coffers, it would be a challenge to bring Hazard to Madrid. However, Solari could explore the angle of adding in Mateo Kovacic in the deal, joined Chelsea on a season long loan as a part of Courtois’ €35 million sale last year. Solari could negotiate the sale of the midfielder, who has impressed Sarri and work his way into buying Hazard for a lower price.
As of now, Hazard is eager to move to the La Liga side in the summer but Chelsea would hope to keep him longer as they are eyeing for a top four finish and qualifying for the Champions league next year.
It would be extremely hard for Real Madrid to bring the quoted price for Eden Hazard on the table, but his move to Bernabeu isn’t impossible. It is also fairly possible that Chelsea could lower their price for the Belgian in the summer as their leverage on the player would be significantly lower as the player would just have 12 months left on his contract.