Chelsea
boss Jose Mourinho values Eden Hazard at £200m and says if Real Madrid
wanted the Belgium playmaker, he would be among the first to know.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane spoke this week of his admiration for Hazard, who
is favourite to be crowned PFA Player of the Year on Sunday night after a
magnificent season for Chelsea.
Zidane is 24-year-old Hazard's idol and the comments were interpreted as the
beginning of a courtship designed to lure Hazard to the Bernabeu.
Asked if £100m would be enough for Chelsea to part with Hazard, Mourinho
said: "Plus one of their three best players. £100m each leg, because he's
very young."
Mourinho, who left Real in 2013 to return to Chelsea, does not expect it to
happen.
"I don't believe (it) because they didn't tell me," he said.
"If they want him, I think I would be the first one to know, because my
relationship with the president (Florentino Perez) and with the CEO (Jose
Angel Sanchez) doesn't give space for something to happen behind me.
"I trust them completely. If they want him they get on the telephone and
they call me to tell me they want him."
Hazard has scored 18 goals this season ahead of Sunday's trip to Arsenal,
who are 10 points behind.
Victory at the Emirates Stadium would see the Blues move within three points
of a first Premier League title in five years.
Team player
His work ethic and willingness to play for the team has impressed Mourinho
as much as his individual skill.
"We are not the kind of group that is looking for somebody to be special,
for somebody to be more than the others. This is not our culture," Mourinho
said.
"He knows that he's a special player for us and that we need him in many
occasions to be decisive for us but, he's such a normal boy that he doesn't
belong to that glamour.
"He wants to be a special player and a normal person. He's a fantastic boy,
a golden boy.
"The way he behaves, the way he wants to be, the way he respects people,
even the way he respects opponents.
"I don't think you can have one opponent who can say 'He insult me, he made
fun of me, he played with his shoulder when he was winning 5-0, he did 20
bicycles (kick-ups) in front of me'.
"He doesn't cheat. He doesn't dive. Nothing. So I think, even for opponents,
I think he's a fantastic kid."
Hazard announced his move from Lille to Chelsea by saying he would be
joining the European champions after their 2012 Champions League success.
Three years later, the Belgian hopes to lift the Premier League title.
"I just feel him also with a great motivation to win the title," Mourinho
added. "What gives you credit is the title. If we win the title he knows
that he was fundamental in the team season. This is what he deserves. He
deserves to be champion."
Hazard's consistently high level has delighted Mourinho.
"These are the kind of players that win matches for the team, but you must
work them in a way where they don't lose matches for the team," Mourinho
added.
"In my career I lost matches because of my best players. In this moment Eden
is in a state of mind and a tactical approach where this season we won
matches because of him and we didn't lose matches because of him.
"This is the player I like because he's a talented player that understands
what the team needs."
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