The headlines were all written in 2019 on the day he was presented at Real Madrid for £90million plus £40m in add-ons. He would turn the Santiago Bernabeu into the ‘Garden of Eden’, destroying teams with the skills that had made him one of Chelsea’s all-time greats.
But Eden Hazard, who retired on Tuesday aged 32, never really came out to play in Spain.
There was one important injury and those at Real Madrid, who brought him to the club with such high hopes, will always wonder what might have been had he not been kicked by international team-mate Thomas Meunier in November 2019 in a Champions League game against Paris Saint Germain.