Eden Hazard Says He Decided on Real Madrid Move After 2018 World Cup

Eden Hazard recently explained he decided to leave Chelsea and join Real Madrid after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.    

He hinted at a desire to exit the Premier League outfit after Belgium's third-place finish at the France tournament:

Hazard, 28, ended up staying at Stamford Bridge for another season before moving to the Santiago Bernabeu for an initial €100 million (£89 million) in June.

He has confirmed to Real Madrid TV he wanted to leave in 2018, particularly after talking with some Real players (h/t Goal's Robin Bairner):

"I'd already made my mind up after the World Cup and I said to myself: 'I have to join Real Madrid now.' That wasn't possible and I spent another year at Chelsea and that made my departure easier. The club understood it and allowed me to leave.

"My dream was always to play for Real Madrid, the greatest team in the world, and so far I'm happy. [Thibaut] Courtois always told me that this was the best club. I also spoke to [Luka] Modric and got the impression that they all wanted to see me at Real Madrid and it finally happened."

Hazard enjoyed the best individual campaign of his career in his last season with Chelsea, helping the Blues finish third in the Premier League and win the UEFA Europa League:

He has made an underwhelming start to life in Madrid, though, taking six appearances to open his goalscoring account after a hamstring injury delayed his competitive debut:

Real signed the former Lille winger in an attempt to replace Cristiano Ronaldo after his exit to Juventus in July 2018 prompted a significant downturn in output in front of goal.

The Portuguese netted 450 goals in his nine seasons at the club, and Real averaged over 2.8 goals per La Liga game in that period.

Without Ronaldo last season, Los Blancos scored 63 goals in La Liga, an average of fewer than 1.7 per game, their worst return since 1999-00.

If Hazard is to at all make up for Ronaldo's exit and help Real win La Liga, he will need to get back to his 2018-19 form fast.