Real Madrid are understood to have agreed what could rise to a club-record fee to sign Eden Hazard from Chelsea.
Madrid have agreed a package for Belgium star Hazard that could rise as high as £130-million when all the bonus payments are included.
The Blues board will view the outcome of lengthy negotiations with Madrid as a success, as Real had been reluctant to pay more than £88-million.
The basic fee for Hazard is expected to reach £100-million, the sum for which Chelsea had been holding out, despite the 28-year-old entering the final year of his Stamford Bridge contract.
Hazard will now leave Chelsea after seven years, having won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup – and two Europa League crowns.
The wily forward spearheaded Chelsea’s 4-1 Europa League final win over Arsenal in Baku last month, then immediately admitted he expected his time at Stamford Bridge to come to an end.
15+ – Eden Hazard is one of just four players in PL history to both score and assist at least 15 goals in a single season:
2018-19: Eden Hazard (16 G, 15 A)
2002-03: Thierry Henry (24 G, 20 A)
1994-95: Matt Le Tissier (19 G, 15 A)
1992-93: Eric Cantona (15 G, 16 A)Magisterial. https://t.co/UpvHutRYze
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 6, 2019
‘I think it’s a goodbye,’ said Hazard in Baku.
‘My dream was to play in the Premier League, I did it for seven years. Maybe it’s time for a new challenge.’
Hazard joined Chelsea from Lille in 2012, and in his final campaign at Stamford Bridge he became just the fourth man in Premier League history to score and assist at least 15 goals in a season.
Chelsea had long been resigned to Hazard leaving the club once he had rejected all offers of a contract extension.
But with one year left on his existing deal, Chelsea will have concluded a fine piece of business by getting Real to meet their asking price.
Zinedine Zidane’s overhaul of the Madrid squad should also now continue apace.
Real have already signed Eintracht Frankfurt striker Luka Jovic for £62-million, and have designs on luring Spurs’ Christian Eriksen to the Bernabeu.
