villan95 Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 Quote Ex-Chelsea winger Eden Hazard has announced his retirement from football after leaving Real Madrid at the end of last season. Hazard, 32, joined Real from Chelsea in 2019 for £89m, but played just 54 league games for the Spanish giants. He won two Premier League titles during his time at Stamford Bridge. "You must listen to yourself and say stop at the right time," said Hazard, who has been a free agent since his contract was terminated in June. "After 16 years and more than 700 matches played, I have decided to end my career as a professional footballer." The Belgian had already retired from international football last December after being part of the squad which was knocked out of the 2022 World Cup during the group stage. At Real Madrid, Hazard won the Champions League, a Club World Cup, a European Super Cup, two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups. But his time in Spain is widely considered disappointing - he scored just 7 goals in 76 appearances in all competitions. Hazard started his career with French club Lille, scoring 50 goals in 149 appearances and helping the club to win a domestic double of Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 2010-11. He moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2012, signing for a reported £32m and went on to become a club-great, scoring 110 goals across 352 appearances including the winner in the 2019 Europa League final against Arsenal in his final appearance for the club. "During my career I was lucky to meet great managers, coaches and teammates - thank you to everyone for these great times, I will miss you all," Hazard added on social media. "I also want to thank the clubs I have played for: LOSC, Chelsea and Real Madrid; and thank the RBFA for my Belgian selection. "A special thank you to my family, my friends, my advisors and the people who have been close to me in good times and bad. "Finally, a huge thank you to you, my fans, who have followed me for all these years and for your encouragement everywhere I have played. "Now is the time to enjoy my loved ones and have new experiences. See you off the field soon my friends." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67063281
rodders0223 Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 This article should be back dated 4 years. What a **** player he was though. Absolutely nobody, and I mean nobody like him when he was on it. Completely and utterly unplayable and a joy to watch. 1
mjmooney Posted October 10, 2023 VT Supporter Posted October 10, 2023 Always thought he sounded like a 1950s pop star from the Joe Meek stable.
villa89 Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 A great player at his peak but injuries and a lack of professionalism cost him when he went to Madrid. 32 seems young to retire but I guess he's achieved enough in his own mind. 1
Greenfly Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 A brilliant player in his pomp, with a fantastic name to boot. It's a real shame how his career panned out, but he'll always have his time at Chelsea to look back on fondly. 1
KevinRichardsonsMoustache Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 Lacked the discipline to be one of the real greats. Naturally so gifted, mind 1
Genie Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 €100m transfer to Real Madrid and he arrived day one with a belly from partying all summer. It kind of set the tone really.
BleedClaretAndBlue Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 The fall off was spectacular. Chelsea got a fantastic deal. Got the most out of him then sold him just in time as he morphed into the hamburgler
PaulC Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 Up there with the greatest Belgium players of all time. A bit sad to see the way his career declined so quickly. A bit like Coutinho really. 2
wishywashy Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 (edited) With how many matches there are nowadays (and how long they're becoming) I don't think it'll be surprising to see more Hazards in the future, where player's bodies start to give up relatively early in their careers after playing way too many minutes at a young age. This was especially the case with Hazard as he was extremely explosive when it came to acceleration, could go from 0-100 very easily especially on the ball: very useful trait, but you can imagine it's extremely taxing on the body, hence presumably why he was injured so much. I wouldn't be surprised to see Grealish going down a similar route as he is also quite reliant on being very explosive (although City's rotational system they can have because they happen to be owned by a nation state helps.) EDIT: Saw this on Twitter. Speaks for itself, really. Edited October 10, 2023 by wishywashy 1
foreveryoung Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 One of my favs, fabulous player, that is until he transfered to Madrid for 100 million and admitted he'd put on 5 kilos over the summer. Never recovered from it. 1
Leeroy Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 During his best days at Chelsea between 2012 and 2019, he was a truly wonderful footballer and one of the best dribblers I've seen coupled with incredible acceleration which made him virtually unstoppable when he was at it. He was quite unique in that he was a lightning quick winger but he was also very creative with excellent short and long passing and often Chelsea's go to man for creating chances so he got a lot of assists as well as goals. Villa were absolute dog turd during those years so watching Hazard brought me some joy during those dark times even if he did play for Chelsea. Some of his goals were absolutely sublime. He carried that team for a lot of his time there so when he left I don't think Chelsea were ever the same. His time at Real was a huge failure and he's certainly not going out on a high, but he lit up the Premier League and certainly will be remembered fondly here.
JoshVilla Posted October 10, 2023 Posted October 10, 2023 Great player on his day. Though, I still can't help but think of him kicking that ball boy.
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