Former Real Madrid and Chelsea star Eden Hazard has been honest about the fact that he is enjoying retirement in recent weeks, and feels no particular need to return to the game after retiring this year. Former teammate John Obi Mikel has revealed that he had some well-paid offers to do so.
Hazard had gradually fallen down the pecking order at Los Blancos, struggling to perform and then picking up a series of injuries that led him to call time on his career at the age of 32. Mikel has revealed that part of the problem was the demands on his body that he had not made before. Previously, Hazard had cruised through training until arriving at Los Blancos, but after injuries caught up with him, the Belgian tried to change his habits.
“I had a phone call with him the other day, and he said, ‘you, you, you, you’re talking so much s*** about me’,” Mikel revealed on Vibe with Five, referring to comments where the ex-Nigerian international had revealed that Hazard did not make much of an effort in training.
“He told me he looked at himself, and when he went to Madrid he said, ‘Ok, let me try, let me give it a go, let me put some effort in’. But as soon as he did start trying, he started getting injured in training, his body couldn’t take it.”
“He said, ‘you know what, I’m just going to quit.’ He got offers to go to Saudi, ‘should I go to Saudi and take a million a week? I had two or three offers from Saudi, but I have a lot of money. You know how I live my life, I don’t spend too much money. So I have enough money to raise my kids’.”
Hazard remains the most expensive signing in Real Madrid history (€129m), and no doubt will have earned many millions over his career. While his spell at Los Blancos remains rather disappointing, and many will struggle to understand his mindset, he does appear to have a mature approach to life outside of football.
