Arsenal ‘initiate first contact’ ahead of shock move for ex-Chelsea man
Arsenal have made the ‘first contact’ ahead of a surprise summer move for ex-Chelsea and current Real Madrid winger Eden Hazard.
Hazard joined Madrid in the summer of 2019 after seven stellar seasons at Stamford Bridge, however it hasn’t worked out for the Belgian in Spain.
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Injuries have thwarted any sort of progress for Hazard at the Bernabeu and when he has been given game-time, the winger has struggled to deliver the numbers and performances he showed at Chelsea.
Well into his third season in La Liga, Hazard has made just 47 appearances, often coming off the bench in that time.
Four league goals is a poor return for a player who cost Real over £100million.
However, he is now being linked with a move back to the Premier League, according to French outlet Foot Mercato (via Sports Witness).
They report that Arsenal are ‘thinking’ of making a move for Hazard and have already ‘initiated the first contacts’ with the aim to bring the Belgian international to the Emirates.
Hazard won the Premier League twice with Chelsea and on a personal level picked up the PFA Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year and was Chelsea’s Player of the Year on four occasions.
Foot Mercato also report that Hazard’s current priority is too fight for his place at Madrid and is not considering a move at present.
However, Real are reportedly close to bringing Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe to the club, meaning Hazard could find minutes even harder to come by.
Speaking on talkSPORT, McCoist said: “Everybody was talking about the Aubameyang situation, saying ‘you’ve got to get him back in the team’ and ‘do this with him’, it looks like he’s done completely the correct thing with him.
“It showed some steel.”
Former Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor added: “You look at the Aubameyang situation and all the players are going to be frightened to step out of line, in a good way.
“He’s stamped his authority on this squad of players.
“If anyone tries to step out of line, Arteta will be like ‘you’ve seen what happened to Aubameyang, I’ll do the same with you’.
“He’s made an example out of Aubameyang to make himself a stronger manager. I think it’s worked, to be honest.”
