Hazard is in no rush

Eden Hazard has it decided: he will not return to the playing fields until he is at 100% and without risk of relapse. The Belgian was injured on March 15 with a muscle tear in the psoas of his right leg, after having come out of another muscle injury that had him out of play for more than a month and after participating only 15 minutes against Elche in the Say Stefano. It is his eleventh injury since he arrived at Madrid in June 2019, a team in which he has only been able to play 36 games so far, scoring four goals and giving seven assists in almost two seasons.

A very poor baggage for a footballer that cost 100 million fixed euros (and another variable amount that did not transpire) and for which Madrid made a considerable effort: the price that Chelsea set at the beginning of the summer was agreed to as long as it could do the full preseason under Zidane's orders, despite the fact that he had only one year left on his contract and Madrid would have been able to substantially lower the cost of the operation by delaying it until the last days of the market. Florentino decided that Hazard should be the figure of the new post-Christian Madrid and acted accordingly, but between injuries and improvable attitudes on the part of the Belgian (He has come on vacation overweight in both preseason) it hasn't taken off yet.

The Zidane-Hazard pact

The attitude of Zidane and of Hazard himself until now had been to align the former Chelsea player at the slightest opportunity, hoping that his physique would hold the pull and that he could gain competition rhythm as soon as possible. But the formula has been wrong: since he was injured last year in November 2019, After a hard tackle from his compatriot Meunier during a Madrid-PSG Champions League, Hazard does not take flight.

First, a conservative treatment was chosen and the terms for his return were shortened, but at the least he suffered from the right ankle again and ended up undergoing surgery in the United States to remove a titanium plate from the area, as a result of a past operation. , and replace it with a new one that is fully fixed and avoids bone problems and the pain that they entail. It seemed the solution, but time has shown that it was not: muscle problems are a constant in Hazard in this second season, to the point that he was put on the table after his last injury to go through the operating room again to consolidate the ankle problems, since it is trusted that the whole root of the problem lies in that area.

At this point, the conflict between Real Madrid and Belgium arose: The white team was betting on a conservative treatment and without any hurry, the Belgian federation for an operation that would prevent them from playing this course again, but give him options to get to Euro 2021 on time. Hazard hesitated, but ultimately heeded the advice of Real Madrid. In Belgium, resigned to the impossibility of their star banishing this season with his club to focus only on the summer team appointment, They ask you to be cautious and not shorten any deadline in order to play again.

Belgium asks for caution

So did his brother and also Belgium player, Thorgan Hazard. The Dortmund footballer sent a public message from the Belgian concentration in this national team break: “Whether or not he is with us is not the same. Let him focus on his rehabilitation, not rush. And that they do not let him return until he is 100%. “

His coach, the Spanish Roberto Martínez, was clearly betting on him going under the knife to avoid future problems. Now he resigns himself and hopes that the return is as safe as possible: “At the beginning we looked at all the options to find the best one, one was to have surgery. It was decided in the end that we would not. We work in the same direction as MadridWe only seek the best for Eden. Nowadays it is a different problem, but everything comes from the same (from last year's operation). Everything comes from there, it is the biggest problem. We believe that the injuries come from the same focus. We hope to see him before the end of the season making a difference and for him to be the best in the European Championship. “.

Like Thorgan Hazard, Martínez asks for calm, to let the recovery take the necessary time: “There are no dates, we only think that he is well. We and Madrid must give him what he needs. We are optimistic, he is in good spirits. But there are no dates, we go day by day, otherwise it would be a mistake. He's in a good mood, desperate to work hard to get back on the field. “

And the fact is that the recovery seems to be going well: this Friday, the Belgian did the first part of the training with the rest of his teammates, a step prior to finally joining the sessions and being available for Zidane to summon him. However, the fiascos of the past have also made the white technician chastise, who at a press conference confirmed that he will go with lead feet: “We go from day to day. We are not going to force anything. He is much better. I do not see him in five days or in a week, ten days … Nothing. If it is in three days, better for us. If it's in ten, well, we'll see. The most important thing is the day to day. He is better, we are happy because he is a little more with the team and that is what we want “.