Thibault Courtois has admitted that he and Eden Hazard would discuss the prospect of moving to Real Madrid while still at Chelsea.
The goalkeeper moved to the Spanish side in 2018 with the winger a high-profile mover to Santiago Bernabeu last summer, and the former has admitted that it was a deal both had in mind for a long period. Indeed, so keen were the duo to move to Zinedine Zidane’s side, they would speak about the prospect while in the Stamford Bridge locker rooms.
“In the Chelsea dressing room, we spoke about the possibility of playing here,” Courtois told El Mundo. “’The White House, the White House...,’ we said. It was nice to speculate about it.
“Now, we are very eager to win trophies.”
Neither has necessarily proven to be a hit since moving to Spain, with Courtois’ long-term position in goal uncertain after a period of mediocre form left fans questioning whether the club was right to offload long-time No.1 Keylor Navas to Paris Saint-Germain. Stronger performance this season, however, has seen him established as the first-choice pick.
Getty Images
Hazard, meanwhile, has struggled under the weight of expectation after a bumper £150 million switch. The Belgian attacker has been beset by injury problems but is set to be fit to return to action after surgery in February. Indeed, the 29-year-old has been tipped as a potential future Ballon d’Or winner by national team boss Roberto Martinez.
Speaking to Cadena SER last week, the former Wigan Athletic boss said: “He can totally win the Ballon d'Or with Real Madrid, without a doubt.
“Sometimes it takes a difficult start at your new club to give everything you have inside and understand what it means to play in a great club like Real Madrid.
“Eden does not miss games, he lost 18 games with Chelsea in eight years and this has been circumstantial. The game that was injured against Paris Saint-Germain we already saw Eden with a lot of joy in his football with a great connection with his team-mates.
“I think Real Madrid fans are confident that he will bring many successes.”
