“I’ll try,” said Eden Hazard when asked in his first press conference at Real Madrid if he could now become the best player in the world.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were the immovable duo but still, the suggestion was not that Hazard settle for third, a position he had already come to hover around following seven brilliant years for Chelsea.
Hazard had been the Premier League’s oustanding attacking talent and at Real Madrid, where the demands would be higher and the supporting cast more prestigious, it was not out of the question there could be more to come.
He could replace Ronaldo, fill Madrid’s creativity gap, launch a new era and perhaps even win the Ballon d’Or. “If everything goes well, why not?” said Hazard. “It’s in my head but I’m not thinking of it every day.”