Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard says he will not move to Real Madrid in January, but agrees he might need to leave Chelsea to win the Ballon d’Or.
The 27-year-old attacker said earlier this month that joining Real had been his “dream since I was a kid”.
Asked if he needed to play in Spain to win the game’s top individual awards, Hazard smilingly replied “that’s why I want to go, maybe”.
The Belgian denied he would move in the January transfer window, however.
Hazard’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires in June 2020 and reports in Spain claim Real Madrid are hopeful that Chelsea may sell at the end of this season for £70m rather than risk losing their star player a year later.
Real signed Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea in August for a reported £35m as the goalkeeper’s contract entered its final year.
Hazard is the Premier League’s top scorer with seven goals so far this season. That is as many goals as Real Madrid as a whole have scored in La Liga this term, with the European champions apparently struggling to adapt to life under new manager Julen Lopetegui and without forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who moved to Juventus in July.
Hazard, who was shortlisted for the men’s award at the recent Fifa Best awards but failed to make the top three, was asked if he was the best player in the world on form. “Yes,” he replied.
The forward has been at Chelsea since signing from Lille in 2012, scoring 76 goals in 216 league appearances.
