The most expensive signing in Real Madrid’s history will almost go the way of Gareth Bale a few years ago, which is ready to receive a huge salary as an extra.
After Bale, Eden Hazard will become Real Madrid’s next burden until the last days of his contract. The prospect of the Belgian star having to finish the 2023/24 season in the Real Madrid shirt is getting bigger and bigger.
Everything is not worth mentioning if Hazard is not the highest-paid player at the Bernabeu, with an income of up to 475,000 euros/week (before tax, equivalent to 24 million euros/year).
In the summer of 2022, Real Madrid fans and leaders can finally forget the name Bale, the most hated star at the Bernabeu in recent years. The Welsh striker received Real Madrid’s wages until the last day of his contract, with very limited contributions to the club on the pitch.
Marca even posted an article saying that no player has received a high salary like Bale just to exercise, play golf and be a “green army” for his teammates during training sessions.
At that time, Bale received a salary of about 30 million euros per season at Real Madrid. In the last period at Real, Bale rarely played. But he was still satisfied with that. Partly because this player could not find a better destination in terms of income. Besides, Bale seems bored with football and is no longer too eager to play.
Players who still have a passion for football will be willing to terminate their contracts with Real soon to find another club. Bale has other thoughts. After the 2022 World Cup ended, the former Tottenham star also announced his retirement.
Hazard now seems to follow in Bale’s footsteps. After retiring from the Belgian national team at the beginning of the year, the former Chelsea star does not seem too eager to remake his career. Despite the fact that the Real Madrid leadership sought to liquidate the player, even creating conditions for Hazard to leave in the last few transfer windows, the star born in 1991 remained at the Bernabeu.
Spanish media revealed that Hazard wants to complete the last year of his current contract with Real, which runs until June 2024. That is the worst-case scenario for Real Madrid because Hazard is almost redundant in the “Los Blancos” squad this season. He played only 194 minutes in La Liga 2022/23. Even when Real Madrid plays procedural matches at the end of the season, coach Carlo Ancelotti would rather use young players than Hazard.
In the confrontation with Sevilla in the 37th round of La Liga, when Real Madrid had a crisis in attack, the Italian strategist even trusted in the use of two midfielders Dani Ceballos and Federico Valverde. Hazard sat on the bench and was not allowed to play for a minute, even though Real only played a procedural match.
Hazard’s situation now is no different than Bale’s two or three years ago. At that time, coach Zinedine Zidane did not care about the Welsh football legend even when Real lacked a striker.
Conspiracy theorists like to explain that Real Madrid’s leadership tries to put pressure on players, forcing them to find a new destination if they want to play at the top level. Few players with a love for football can stand being on the bench for too long. Except for the highly-paid substitutes like Bale and Hazard.
In the summer of 2019, Hazard moved to Real Madrid for an initial price of 100 million euros and a salary double the previous income of the player at Chelsea. Two years later, Football Leaks revealed that the real fee Real had to pay Chelsea to buy Hazard could be up to 160 million euros. This information was later verified by the Belgian media when Hazard’s transfer was also partly paid for by Royal Stade Brainois and FC Tubize, the two clubs that contributed to the training of this star.
Therefore, Hazard became the most expensive contract in Real Madrid’s history. And he is also on the way to becoming the worst deal in the club’s history.
Four seasons have passed at the Bernabeu, Hazard is often friends with injuries and medical staff. He was also criticized for being overweight and for not being serious about training. The mark Hazard left in the successes of Real Madrid in the past 4 years is very few.
If Bale played brilliantly in his early stages at Real and left a strong mark on the club’s Champions League titles, Hazard’s contribution to the “Los Blancos” titles won was very little. If Bale is the “hated legend” at Real, then what is Hazard?
The Belgian’s contribution during his four years at the Bernabeu was almost zero, and now he has chosen to follow Bale’s controversial path.
No one can judge Hazard for wanting to stay and receive a desirable salary. But Real Madrid fans have every right to be angry. The fact that Hazard tried to stay at Real only made it more difficult for the leadership of the Spanish capital club to rebuild the force.
Next season, the stands at the Bernabeu will probably resound with boos and criticism of Hazard, just like how Bale received a few years ago.
