Courtois Wants Hazard At Madrid

Thibaut Courtois said it would be “fantastic” if Eden Hazard could one day join him at Real Madrid during his unveiling at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday.

Chelsea’s focus remains on keeping Hazard in spite of Madrid’s interest, but the playmaker will enter the final year of his contract next summer and Courtois is hopeful that his Belgium teammate will rejoin him at his new club.

“He is very happy that I am here because he knows how important it was for me to come to Real Madrid,” Courtois said. “He is a wonderful player. I’d love to play alongside him again and we’ll have to see what happens in the future. If he ends up here one day, that would be fantastic.”

Courtois signed his six-year Madrid contract before addressing the media, and he voiced his delight at completing a £35 million move to “the best club in the world.”
The move had been a long time in the making for Courtois, who was sent on loan from Chelsea to Atletico Madrid for three seasons before returning to London in 2014.

He had often expressed a desire to return to Madrid to live closer to his two children and declined to report for training earlier this week in order to force a move.

“A club like Real Madrid take notice of you if you’re playing well,” Courtois said. “I received a lot of offers — some better from a financial point of view — but I wanted to come here, and importantly, be close to my children. When there was a firm offer on the table, I was in no doubt. My goal was to come to Real Madrid. Everyone knew that.”