Jose Mourinho has put a price on Eden Hazard if Real Madrid fancy adding him to their stable of galacticos.
“One hundred million pounds for each leg!” he said. “Plus one of their best three players.”
And the Chelsea boss was only half-joking at the end of a week that saw Real legend Zinedine Zidane begin what many believe to be a charm offensive that will end in a bid to lure the 24-year-old Belgian to the Bernabeu.
Hazard has just signed a five-a-half-year, £200,000-a-week contract, but that has never stopped Real pursuing their targets.
Mourinho, though, is dismissive of the speculation.
“If they want him, I think I would be the first to know,” said the man who managed Real for three years. “That’s because of my relationship with President Perez and the CO, Enrique Sanchez.
“I trust them completely. If they want him, they pick up the telephone and they call me.”
Hazard has elevated himself into the bracket occupied by Real players like Ronaldo, Bale and Rodriguez after a season that could see him become Player of the Year twice over.
The first leg of that double will be decided tonight when the PFA announce their award.
If the players’ ballot had taken place a few weeks back, Harry Kane may have pipped him, but Hazard looks a shoo-in for the Football Writers’ award next month.
Mourinho, however, insists he has no interest in the ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House tonight.
His only focus is on what happens three miles north at the Emirates Stadium a few hours earlier and so, he said, is Hazard’s.
“The only thing I want is to win at Arsenal,” said Mourinho. “After the game, I go home because tomorrow we go to St. George’s Park to prepare for the Leicester game on Wednesday.
“If Eden wins the Premier League, that will be enough for him. That is the title he deserves.
“It’s not about an individual award, or comments from the pundits or former stars. What gives you credit is winning the Championship.
“We are in the culture of individualism, where somebody is more important than the other.
“That is not our culture at Chelsea. We have a very good team ethic. We are not a group who are looking for somebody to be more than the others.
“Eden knows he is a special player for us. He knows we need him on so many occasions to be decisive for us. But he is such a normal boy. He doesn’t belong to that glamour.
“In my career, I have lost games because of my best players. The players who gave me so many winning matches have also lost me matches.
“We have won matches because of Eden but we don’t lose matches because of him.
“This is the kind of player I like because he is a talented player, who understands the team ethic.
“In football now, a lot is about being both a special player and a special person. This is not him. He wants to be a special player and a normal person.
“He is an example to the young players here because of the way he behaves, and the way he respects people even opponents.
“I don’t think you would find one opponent who could say ‘he insulted me’, or ‘he made fun of me’.
“Eden doesn’t cheat, he doesn’t dive. Even for opponents, he is a fantastic kid.”
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