Eden Hazard has issued a come and get me plea to Real Madrid by confirming that the time might be right for him to leave Chelsea once he returns from the World Cup.
Chelsea are desperate to keep Hazard, who has two years remaining on his contract, but the Belgian is a target of both Real and Barcelona.
After scoring against England to secure third place for Belgium at the World Cup, Hazard, who Chelsea value at over £200 million, was asked about his future.
“I will go on holiday and ask myself the right questions,” said Hazard. “After six wonderful years at Chelsea, it might be time to discover something different. I can decide if I want to stay or go, but Chelsea will make the final decision – if they want to let me go.
“For my career, certainly after this World Cup, I’m at a moment where I might change.”
Hazard, who has never tried to hide his desire to play for Real one day, added: “We all know that I’ve always felt well at Chelsea, and I’ve been linked to all the big clubs. Next week it will be Bayern (Munich). No I’m joking. You all know my preferred destination.”
Confirmation that Hazard may want to leave is a big blow to new head coach Maurizio Sarri and the 27-year-old said: “We knew for a while that Sarri was going to become the new manager. Now it’s official. If he’s a good manager? If he lets me win trophies, yes. Dries Mertens has said its a good manager. We will have to work hard. The Italian way, but we were used to that with Antonio Conte too. We will see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Sarri assured Chelsea he does not hold any homophobic or sexist views ahead of his appointment. And the Italian has also been enrolled straight on to an intensive course to improve his English, following his move to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea formally announced the appointment of Sarri, on a three-year contract, and the signing of midfielder Jorginho, on a five-year deal, on Saturday.
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The news was met positively by Chelsea supporters, despite some concerns over Sarri’s past misdemeanors.
In 2016, while in charge of Napoli, he was accused of calling then Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini a “poof” and a “faggott”, and was subsequently given a two-game ban and had to pay a 20,000 euro fine.
At the time, Sarri said: “I was just irritable…I was not discriminating against anyone. If I did indeed use those words, then I apologise to the gay community.”
Sarri was forced to apologise again in March this year for responding to a female reporter’s question by saying: “You’re a woman, you’re beautiful, for those two reasons I won’t tell you to go f*** yourself.”
Telegraph Sport understands both incidents came up in negotiations between Sarri and Chelsea, and the 59-year-old was left in no doubt that any similar comments would be deemed completely unacceptable.
Sarri assured his new Blues bosses that both sets of comments did not represent his views and that they were ill-judged, and poorly worded. He also promised that they would not be repeated.
In order to make sure he can communicate himself effectively at Chelsea, Sarri will immediately start taking English lessons at least once or twice a week while he prepares for the new season.
Sarri is said to have a basic level of English he can already speak, due in part to the time he spent in the country in his previous career as a banker, but he is keen to improve it as quickly as possible.
His cigarette habit is another issue that he will have to address, as smoking is banned inside English football stadiums.
One player who will have no problem understanding Sarri is Jorginho, who turned down a move to Premier League champions Manchester City, to join Chelsea.
Sarri and Jorginho worked together at Napoli, and the 26-year-old said: “I am absolutely ecstatic to be here at Chelsea. It is not easy to become part of such a big team so I am very, very happy. I am excited to play in such an intense league for a team that gives everything to play and win.”
