Entering the UEFA Europa League final, Chelsea forward Eden Hazard said that winning the match would make for the perfect farewell. Mission accomplished, as the Belgian bagged a brace and the Blues routed Arsenal 4-1 in a London derby staged in Baku, Azerbaijan.
As of now, the match will most likely be remembered going forward for the dreadful lack of atmosphere, empty seats and logistical travel issues that kept fans of both clubs away. However, it’s possible that this game, in time, might be better remembered for the dominant performance by Eden Hazard in his Chelsea send-off.
Hazard has been widely linked with a move to Real Madrid, with club President Florentino Perez even admitting this week that they have been coveting the winger.
Curerent conventional wisdom holds that it’s now up to the two clubs to finalize a price on this deal, and then cross the Ts and dot the Is. Eden Hazard made comments after the win that essentially verified all of these narratives.
“We will decide in a few days and the only target in my mind was to win this final,” Hazard is quoted by the BBC.
“I have made my decision already and now I’m waiting on both clubs. I think it is a goodbye, but in football you never know. My dream was to play in the Premier League and I have done that for one of the biggest clubs, so maybe now it is the time for a new challenge.”
Hazard has used some of these phrases before. Last summer he spoke of wanting a “new challenge,” but his move to the Bernabeu didn’t happen.
When the Premier League season ended earlier this month, he mentioned that he already made up his mind about his future, and that he’s waiting on the club to get it done.
In other words, it sounds like this transfer is a matter of when, not if and the ball is no longer in the player’s court.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.