Real to announce Hazard at the end of season

Real Madrid will announce the signing of Eden Hazard from Chelsea when the season ends, according to Marca.

The Spanish giants have long been pursuing the Belgian, even before Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus, but since then their need for his services has become much more pronounced. His contract with Chelsea runs out next summer, and though negotiations over a new deal have taken place, he simply wouldn’t put pen to paper – a strong indication of his intention to leave.

Further more, he never hid that Real’s interest was something he wouldn’t mind looking into, believing that at his age (28) there was one big move left to make in his career.

The agreement still hasn’t been officially confirmed, however. One reason is that neither party wishes to do anything that would potentially derail Chelsea’s efforts to qualify for next season’s Champions League by either winning the Europa League or finishing in the top four of the Premier League.

The other is that the fee is yet to be ironed out. Chelsea were hoping to receive close to €140 million which Real were reluctant to pay, but as their need to bring Hazard in becomes more dire, they’ve accepted that they will need to break their transfer record to make it happen.