Real Madrid forced to pay Chelsea more money for RETIRED €100m flop

Robin Bairner

• 15 May 2024 14:15 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea are set to receive an unexpected transfer bonus from Eden Hazard’s 2019 move to Real Madrid… even though the Belgium international has been retired for the best part of a year.

The Blues are set to receive €5.8 million (£5m) from the transfer as part of the agreement with Los Blancos, with the initial terms of the deal still valid even though Hazard departed the Bernabeu side last summer by mutual agreement, The Telegraph reports.

The Belgium international left Chelsea one year from the end of his deal at Stamford Bridge in a transfer deal that was worth a total of €150m, with the majority of that tied up in an initial payment.

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Real Madrid paid an estimated €100m (£89m) upfront for the winger with the remainder made of bonuses. The fee has since grown to a record total of €115m, surpassing the price Los Blancos paid for Gareth Bale, but has now jumped another €5m.

With the Spanish side reaching the final of the Champions League, one of these payments has been triggered.

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Real Madrid's worst transfer ever?

The deal has proven to be one of the worst pieces of business in the history of the Spanish club but equally a transfer masterstroke by Chelsea, who sold the attacker when he was still considered a serious contender to win a Ballon d’Or.

Hazard struggled with injury problems throughout his time with the Bernabeu side, mustering only 76 appearances across all competitions for Los Blancos, during which he scored seven times and created another 12.

In his final campaign, the 2022/23 season, he featured only 10 times and played for only 392 minutes, regularly finding himself as an unused substitute for Carlo Ancelotti’s side even when he was not battling physical problems.

Hazard had been expected to play out his contract until the end of June 2024, at which point he would have departed as a free agent, yet Real Madrid negotiated the release of the former Belgium international last October.