Hazard-ous! Disastrous Eden transfer reason for Real Madrid strategy shift

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:00 CDT
• 3 min read

Eden Hazard's club record €146.1 million move to Real Madrid from Chelsea in 2019 was the final nail in the coffin for Florentino Perez's "Galactico" policy.

Real broke the world transfer record twice in Florentino Perez's first spell as president, signing Luis Figo for €42m and Zinedine Zidane for €53m from Barcelona and Juventus respectively in consecutive summers in 2000 and 2001.

It was a philosophy he continued in his second spell in charge at the Bernabeu, which began in 2009 after a three-year hiatus, with Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and then Gareth Bale all then breaking the transfer record, the latter two for deals hovering around the €100m mark.

READ: Haaland and Davies: Real Madrid plan to build team of Galacticos

But while Kaka is perhaps the only one of the five who didn't hit the same heights as at previous clubs once in the Spanish capital, things have simply gone from bad to worse for Hazard, who cost more money than any of the aforementioned with his move three-and-a-half years ago.

"After the poor results of the multimillion-dollar investments made by Real Madrid… Florentino Perez's club has significantly changed its transfer policy," write Spanish newspaper Sport.

"Madrid no longer spends money on established players but on young promising players that give them such good results."

READ: The five Real Madrid players who could leave in January

Hazard has only scored seven goals in his time in Madrid, and has yet to feature in a game against the club's Clasico rivals Barcelona.

The proof is in the pudding

Real committed €100m to Aurelien Tchouameni's transfer from Monaco last summer and will pay Palmeiras €72m for Brazilian wonderkid Endrick, but they are 22 and 16 respectively. With Antonio Rudiger, 29, and David Alaba, 30 both signed on frees, Real's transfer strategy is plain to see.

"Madrid also focuses on two markets: the Brazilian and French," continue Sport. "Because they are, within the madness that football is experiencing, the most economically affordable markets since the salaries of the players aren't crazy."

Real had five players from those two nations at the recent World Cup in Qatar, in Brazilians Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Eder Militao, with Tchouemani joined by Eduardo Camavinga. Ferland Mendy had been a surprise omission, meanwhile.