Revealed: Why Eden Hazard retired from football

Carlo Garganese

• 10 Oct 2023 12:30 BST
• 3 min read

Eden Hazard decided to retire from football after finding no suitable clubs to join this summer.

That is according to journalist and Belgian football expert Bruno Ahoyo, who reports that Hazard had been keen initially to continue his career.

Hazard was released by Real Madrid at the end of last season after four disastrous years in La Liga.

Ahoyo reports that Hazard’s agents sounded the market in the summer looking for a final challenge for the Belgium legend.

However, they were unable to find any clubs who both fit Hazard's pedigree as well as his family requirements.

As a result, Hazard opted to retire from football.

He took his final decision a few days ago and the news was officially announced on Tuesday.

Hazard's disastrous Real Madrid move

Eden Hazard’s transfer to Madrid had long been a case of when, not if, he would go, but as it’s turned out the ‘when’ was much more critical than it seemed.

It spelled the end of what has been a miserable past four years for Hazard, ever since he made a €115 million move from Chelsea in 2019.

Coming off his most impressive individual season at Chelsea, the then-28-year-old was granted his dream move to Los Blancos as a sure-fire Galactico.

However, arriving overweight for pre-season laid down a marker for a dreadful move. A talisman who often carried his team to success was brought along for the ride, with injuries and poor discipline to blame.

After arriving at Real Madrid, the once unplayable Belgian had more injuries than goal contributions.

He made just three starts and scored only one goal in his final campaign before being released on a free transfer.

Hazard is still only 32 so it comes as a bit of a shock that he has ended his career at such a young age but it sums up how a once great player has declined so much in the last years.