Why Eden Hazard didn’t join Lionel Messi in MLS or Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Pro League as ex-Chelsea & Real Madrid forward explains shock retirement at 32 years of age

The former Belgium international stunned the football world when announcing his retirement at just 32 years of age. He had been released by Real Madrid as a free agent after four forgettable seasons at Santiago Bernabeu, with the decision taken to hang up his boots rather than find a new club.

There had been talk of Hazard heading to America or the Middle East, with there plenty of money and familiar faces to be found in those surroundings. Hazard has told reporters of that speculation after playing in a charity match alongside the likes of Didier Deschamps and Robert Pires: “I wouldn’t play anywhere for money. I’m 32 years old and have a whole life ahead of me to enjoy away from the playing fields.”

Expanding on his reasons for calling it quits, Hazard said of losing his love of the game during a difficult spell at Real Madrid: “It is never easy to make a decision like that, but I am not going to say that it was difficult. It is something that I had reflected on a lot, I had the support of people who know me and who know that I really want to do other things with my life outside of football. Last season was complicated and when I left the national team I already had everything thought out. I no longer enjoyed going to training and as I played less it became more complicated.”

Hazard made just 76 appearances for Real after joining them from Chelsea in 2019, with only seven goals recorded as questions of his form and fitness became alarmingly frequent. He was released with there still a year left to run on his contract in the Spanish capital.