Eden Hazard struggles again in Real Madrid shirt

Real Madrid came out on top against Getafe with a solitary goal from Marco Asensio. With several changes to the starting eleven, it was an opportunity for the likes of Eden Hazard to get game-time, but the Belgian, once again, struggled.

Hazard had long lost his place on the left wing, the place that Vinicius took from him last season and which he has not been able to regain. Carlo Ancelotti, aware that the gap between the Belgian and the Brazilian is oceanic at this moment in time, saw this season as a transformation of Eden, who has lost his speed and spark. He wanted to turn him into a potential ‘false nine’ to showcase his eye for goal and his shot. That’s where Carletto tried to use him, with decent results in Glasgow against Celtic, but much worse afterwards, to the point that Rodrygo has been Karim Benzema’s main backup this season.

Hazard’s appearances this season have been few and far between, as well as unsuccessful. He has accumulated less than 400 minutes in total, in which he has scored one goal and provided two assists (the goal and one of the assists are from that night at Celtic Park). So much so that he has only started twice in LaLiga and has not started since 3 January, when he came into the starting eleven at the home of Cacereño in Madrid’s first round of the Copa del Rey.

Against Getafe, he didn’t have a single shot on target, had 18 completed passes out of 19, two recoveries, five lost balls and not a single dribble. It was a very poor showing for a player who, just a few weeks ago, was calling for more opportunities to prove he still had a future at the elite level.

“I would like to stay. I’ve always said that. I hope to play to show that I can still do it. People have doubts, it’s normal. I understand that very well. But as far as I’m concerned, I’m still here next year. You never know, but a transfer is not in the plan. Deep down, I think: ‘I can bring something to the table’. I’m sorry, that’s all. If I contribute a little bit, people will trust me again. Maybe they’ll tell themselves they made a mistake by leaving me out. I just need minutes in my legs,” he said in mid-March.

And a few days ago, after the victory in the Copa del Rey final, he repeated it again: he wants to stay until the end of his contract, on 30 June 2024.

Hazard’s high wages

Real Madrid would prefer him to leave to free up space in the squad that can be used by a player who does count for Ancelotti. The Belgian’s signing is considered a huge failure: a fixed 100 million was paid to take him from Chelsea in 2019, but injuries did not help. He didn’t help himself either and didn’t take care of his diet as he should have and at various times prioritised appointments with his national team.

Hazard is the highest-paid player in Madrid’s squad. The club spend 30 million euros gross on his wages alone, and Madrid also want to free up that wage space, but they know it is practically impossible. Everything depends on finding him a destination that he wants to go to and where they will pay a minimum part of his salary, which Madrid would complement so that he can receive what he has signed up for. But for that to happen, he must be willing to leave Madrid, something he said before the 2022 World Cup that he would do if the club asked him to, although he later went back on that statement.