Eden Hazard Real Madrid

Hazard: I was a baby at Chelsea but I'm ready to win with Real Madrid

Eden Hazard claims to have been “a baby” when he joined Chelsea, but now feels mature enough to deliver on the lofty expectations at Real Madrid.

The Belgium international is among those to have arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu during another summer of change for Los Blancos.

Big money has been invested in prising him away from Stamford Bridge, with the 28-year-old considered to be at the peak of his powers and a good fit for Madrid’s ‘Galactico’ mould.

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Hazard is aware of the pressure he is about to perform under, but believes he is ready to embrace that challenge after working hard to put himself in such a position.

He told Jay Shetty: “When you play for Madrid you have to win every year.

“If in a year you do not win the Champions League, the fans are angry but it's normal at a club like this. You need to win and that's why I'm here.

“What can I contribute? I went to Chelsea seven years ago as a baby but I am more mature now - I have played more than 500 games, but I am 28 years old and I still feel young.

“La Liga is completely different from the Premier League but, with experience, you adapt quickly. I think that experience is the most important thing.”

Eden Hazard Chelsea 2019

Hazard could get his first taste of life as a Real player when they face Bayern Munich in the International Champions Cup.

He is looking forward to getting going, after so much speculation surrounding his future, and admits that he needs game time in order to build up his sharpness and hit the ground running in 2019-20.

Hazard added: “It's just friendly games [coming up] but for me it's going to be my first game with Real Madrid so of course I want to impress everyone; my teammates, the boss, the fans so I will try to do my best.

“I try to play freely, sometimes it's difficult in football, but I'm the kind of player who, if he does not play freely, it's bad.

“I like to put myself on the right, then on the left, sometimes in the centre, playing by instinct.

“That's football for me - instinct. I do not think about each action carefully, in a second I make the decision.”

That approach has served Hazard well to this point, with a man who has 102 international caps to his name having been a winner of two Premier League titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and a couple of Europa League crowns during a successful spell at Chelsea.

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