Hazard was 'made to play at Real Madrid' - Fabregas

The Spanish midfielder, who spent five years alongside the Belgian at Stamford Bridge, believes his game is best suited to Los Blancos

Former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said that he believes his ex-team-mate in West London Eden Hazard is better suited to Real Madrid than another of his previous clubs, Barcelona.

Hazard joined Zinedine Zidane’s club this summer in a £89 million ($111m) deal as Los Blancos look to usurp the Catalan club at the top of La Liga.

Fabregas, who spent five years alongside the Belgium international at Stamford Bridge, thinks Hazard’s free-flowing style is better suited to the Santiago Bernebeu than Camp Nou.

“Hazard is a great player who makes the difference,” the Monaco player is quoted as saying by AS.

“He is the kind of player that was made to play at Real Madrid because he needs a lot of space to run in to, to have the ball and drive, he likes to move around the field and you can’t tell him to ‘stay there’.

“At Barcelona, for example, it’s a team more about positioning, for everyone to be in their place to circulate the ball.

“And he likes to go to the ball to have freedom and he can give Real Madrid much more than he could give to Barcelona.”

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Not to be outdone by their fierce rivals, Barca have also augmented their attacking ranks by capturing Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid.

The France international made the switch, in somewhat controversial circumstances, for €120 million (£108m/$135m) on July 14.

Fabregas, in Spain for a pre-season friendly against Valencia, said he found the move ‘surprising’ and also said a return to La Liga was unlikely as he nears the end of his playing career.

“[Griezmann] signed an important contract with Atleti and it seemed he had the intention to try and do something big there. But football changes a lot,” the 32-year-old continued.

“His arrival makes Barcelona even better because he’s a really good player and will support that attack a lot.

“It’s difficult to think about coming to Spain at 32. My dream was to play with Barcelona and I did that for three years, won many things and was very happy.

“A lot of things would have to happen for me to go back and play in Spain.”

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