Chelsea forward Eden Hazard is due to report to the team today, but the club has yet to release photos of the 27-year-old training at Cobham. Hazard was on an extended post World Cup holiday with Belgium, on the heels of their historic third place finish in the tournament.
The Belgian has been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid all summer long, and new Blues boss Maurizio Sarri is set to hold crunch talks with Hazard (Thibaut Courtois as well, who is also a Real Madrid target) encouraging both to stay; according to 90 Min and the Daily Express.
Eden Hazard on his holidays. pic.twitter.com/gYjv1SoiSh
— TweetChelseaUK (@TweetChelseaUK) August 3, 2018
All signs, reportedly, point to an Eden Hazard stay with the west London club. Sarri seems confident that his star forward is staying put, and the transfer window comments made by new Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui are encouraging. The European champions don’t seem in a desperate hurry to try and replace Cristiano Ronaldo any time soon.
“We are delighted with the squad we have and are convinced that we will fight for all our objectives, and it cannot be any other way at Real Madrid,” said Lopetegui as reported by (Marca).
“We want to be a great team on the pitch. If a player doesn’t come or go, I will be a happy coach.”
“We are not going to talk about hypotheticals. With the squad we have, we will be able to face the demands of Real Madrid.”
Additionally, Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata is certainly speaking of Eden Hazard at Chelsea in the present tense. Morata pointed out Hazard could be a great mentor to Callum Hudson-Odoi.
“As a player and a man — because Eden is a good example,” Morata told the Daily Mirror. “Callum is lucky with Eden, with Willian and all the strikers because they are good people and if he listens and watches Willian, he can be the best for the future.”
Chelsea face Manchester City in the Community Shield tomorrow. They open their regular season slate a week from today against Huddersfield Town.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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