Chelsea legend Eden Hazard reportedly turned down a massive deal worth £1 million per week from Saudi Arabia before he decided to retire from professional football.
Although he spent 4 years in Madrid, it was followed by frequent injuries, and the former Chelsea ace just played 76 games for the Spanish powerhouses due to frequent injury blows.
Mikel Obi recently revealed in his interview with Rio Ferdinand on Vibe with Five that despite Hazard’s fitness issues he still received many lucrative offers from Saudi Arabia.
Mikel revealed that Hazard said that: “Should I go to Saudi Arabia, where I’m going to take a million a week, and then what? I got about two or three offers to go to Saudi Arabia.”
“He said, ‘Mikel, I’ve got a lot of money. You know how I live my life. I don’t spend too much money. So, I have money now to live with my family and to bring up [my children],” Eden Hazard added.
Following his and Lille’s 2011 Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double, Hazard won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and two Europa Leagues while at Chelsea.
Although Hazard hasn’t disclosed his future plan, many wish that he follow in the footsteps of his former teammate Fernando Torres and become a coach in the future due to his mastery of the game.
Eden Hazard
Eden Michael Walter Hazard is a Belgian former professional footballer who was born on 7th January, 1991 and played as a winger or attacking midfielder for Lille, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and the Belgium national team.
The Belgian is globally known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, and he is regarded as one of the best players of his generation.
Eden Hazard began his senior career with Ligue 1 club Lille in 2007 at the age of 16 and in his first full season, he became the first non-French player to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award, and the following season became the first player to win the award twice.
Eden Hazard also won the league and cup double and, as a result of his performances, was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, the youngest player to win the award in the 2010/1 season.
After making over 190 appearances and scoring 50 goals for Lille, Eden Hazard signed for English club Chelsea in June 2012 where he went on to win the UEFA Europa League in his first season and PFA player of the year in his second season.
He also helped Chelsea win the Football League Cup and Premier League, earning him the FWA Footballer of the Year and the PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards.
The Belgian joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 in a transfer worth up to €150 million, making it one of the highest transfer fees ever to be recorded in the transfer market.
He only played a few games, though, due to injury issues, poor play, and a lack of fitness. He left the team in June 2023 and retired from professional football four months later.
