Madrid: Eden Hazard said on Thursday he wants to become a ‘Galactico’ at Real Madrid and believes he is joining the club at the perfect moment in his career.
###
Hazard was unveiled in front of around 50,000 fans at the Santiagio Bernabeu after the Belgian’s long-awaited move from Chelsea was confirmed last week.
###
“I’m not a galactico, not yet, but I hope I will be one day,” Hazard said in a press conference afterwards.
###
“Despite everything I’ve done in the past, it will be like starting again from zero. I’m not a galactico, I’m Eden Hazard, just a very good player.”
###
Madrid will pay Chelsea an initial 100 million euros for Hazard, with another 45 million due in potential add-ons for the 28-year-old, who has signed a five-year contract with his new club.
###
Hazard admitted Madrid made a move for him after the World Cup last year but insisted this was the right time to leave Chelsea.
###
“I don’t think it is too late, I am 28 years old, the best moment for a player,” Hazard said.
###
“I have had various phases of my career, at Lille and Chelsea, and now I felt the time was right to join the best club in the world.”
###
Madrid struggled without Cristiano Ronaldo last season and Hazard will be tasked with helping to fill the void.
###
Despite the arrivals of Eder Militao, Luka Jovic and Ferland Mendy this summer, he is the first statement signing since Zinedine Zidane was reappointed in March.
###
“When you play for a team like Real Madrid there is not one single star, the team is the star,” Hazard said.
###
“I have been at Chelsea for seven years, but now I am the new guy in the team and I will try to contribute as much as possible.”
###
Asked if he wanted to become the best player in the world at Real Madrid, Hazard said: “I will try but first I will try to be in the best team in the world.
###
“It is a different level. I had a lot of success with Chelsea and I want to win a lot with Madrid as well. Just to be here is a new challenge.”
###
Hazard admitted Zidane was also a key factor in his decision.
###
“Everyone knows Zidane was my idol growing up,” he said. “That he is the coach has been an important factor but not the only one. I already wanted to play here.
###
“I was a kid playing football in the garden with my brothers when I began to be a Real Madrid fan.
###
“Then I went to France, then to England, but being a Real Madrid player, wearing this shirt, it is an honour. I can’t wait for the season to start.”
###
The shirt Hazard wore in front of the fans came without a number and he admitted he had told Mateo Kovacic at Chelsea to ask his fellow Croatian, Luka Modric, about the number 10.
###
“I have been able to talk to Modric through Kovacic and I was joking when I asked him to lend me the number 10,” Hazard said. “He said no, so I’ll have to find another number.”
###
Hazard scored 110 goals in seven seasons at Chelsea and was named in the PFA Premier League team of the year four times.
###
At the end of the 2014-15 season, he was awarded both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season.
###
“In football you can always improve, you never reach your limit,” Hazard said.
###
“There is always room to do better, both individually and collectively. I am in a good moment of my career, but this team can allow me to raise the bar even further.”
Click Here: Celtic Football Shirts