Former LOSC Lille, Chelsea and Real Madrid winger Eden Hazard (33) has revealed that he briefly considered coming back to Lille to finish his career where he started it, according to an interview in La Voix Du Nord this week.
The Belgian retired in October 2023 and resisted the temptation to head back to Northern France for one last dance with the club that launched his career:
” I’ve always been clear on this. Lille is my club, my only French club and I couldn’t see myself in the shirt of another French team.
Before retiring, I even considered coming back, but it was too complicated and I didn’t have the desire anymore. It was complicated on a family level, we would have had to leave Madrid and my family is settled there. I had doubts in my head.
On the one hand, I wanted to come back because it would’ve been a magnificent story, but on the other hand my body was starting to malfunction. Why come back if I can’t perform? I wasn’t sure of being able to play to a good level given the injuries I’ve suffered over the past few years. When I speak of Lille, only one word comes to mind: MAGNIFICENT. From the start, when I was 14 years old, until the year I left (2012), it was magnificent, and not only on a footballing level.
Eden Hazard joined Lille’s youth academy in 2005, coming through the ranks and establishing a reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting youngsters.
A Ligue 1 title, a Coupe de France, 50 goals and 53 assists in 194 games later, the Belgian joined Chelsea in 2012 and racked up 110 goals and 92 assists in 352 appearances for the Blues, winning two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and two Europa Leagues with the West London outfit.
Despite sealing a dream 100M€ move to Real Madrid in 2019, things went
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