Eden Hazard claims that when he’s finished at Real Madrid he will return back to Chelsea, after calling time on a successful seven-year spell in London this summer.
Hazard completed a move to Santiago Bernabeu from Stamford Bridge for an initial £88.5m ($119m) fee on June 7.
The Belgian won six major trophies during his time with Chelsea, including two Premier League titles and two Europa League crowns, while emerging as one of the finest attacking midfielders in football.
The 28-year-old hasn’t quite been able to match those high standards during his first few months at Madrid, having dealt with a number of fitness issues.
Hazard has featured in 13 matches across all competitions for the Madrid this campaign, but only has one goal to his name to date, and won’t have the opportunity to add to that tally when Zinedine Zidane’s side face Valencia on Sunday.
The former Chelsea winger suffered a fractured ankle in a 2-2 draw with PSG in the Champions League last month, missing subsequent games against Alaves, Espanyol and Club Brugge as a result.
Hazard took some time out from his rehabilitation programme this week to speak to Chelsea fan Frank Khalid and, after being told that the Blues are still pining for the Belgian after his exit, he responded with a smile and a wink: “When I finish here I’ll come back.”
Hazard added on keeping up to date with his former team’s progress under Frank Lampard: “When I can I watch. Not all the time. They are doing well, they’re young. Now they can pay for players, they can buy players now.”
When it was put to him that, with their transfer ban having been lifted, Chelsea could look to sign Eden Hazard, he responded: “I do my job here and then I come back.”
Real Madrid are second in La Liga behind Barcelona on goal difference at the moment, with the first Clasico of the 2019-20 season set to take place at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
