“I can earn a million euros a week, but after?”, Eden Hazard explains why he refused offers from Saudi Arabia
Just retired from the world of football, Eden Hazard refused more than a million euros per week to go and play in Saudi Arabia. A choice that he explained to his former teammate John Obi Mikel.
Long before announcing his retirement from sport at just 32 years old, Eden Hazard could have relaunched a career that had been almost dormant for several years at Real Madrid by joining several football stars in Saudi Arabia. But the Belgian international refused “two, three offers” from the Gulf country, as he confided to John Obi Mikel, whom he worked with at Chelsea between 2012 and 2017.
“I can earn a million euros a week, but after that?”, the Belgian told Obi Mikel. “He said to me, ‘I already have so much money. And then, we also know how he lives. He doesn’t spend a lot of money. What mattered to him was having enough to live with his family and raise his children,” the Nigerian explained in the “Vibe with Five” podcast with Rio Ferdinand.
An end to his career marred by injuries
After a successful debut at Lille, then at Chelsea, the 32-year-old former player saw his adventure at Real Madrid weighed down by repeated injuries. In four seasons with the Merengue club he only played 76 matches, including 44 as a starter, for seven goals and nine assists. His match against Getafe, on May 13 on the 34th day, will forever remain the last of a career which did not take the expected turn, even if the former Lille player has built a solid record. .
Voted best player in Ligue 1 (2011, 2012), best player in the Premier League (2015) and player of the season in the Europa League (2019), he won Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France with Lille (2011), the Premier League with Chelsea (2015 and 2017) as well as the Champions League (2022) and La Liga (2020, 2022) under the colors of Real.
