Hazard was in the stands at Di Stéfano watching the game against Valladolid. In the morning he had been the protagonist of the news of the day. He was injured again,
this time with a muscle injury that the club has not identified and that will keep him off the pitch for another month.
Hazard, hidden behind a dark cap and the mandatory mask, interacted with his companions, relaxed.
At halftime, Florentino approached him to see first-hand the status of what had to be the flagship of the project since last season.
Already, at this point, the alarms have gone off in the white entity for the situation that the Belgian stars in.
It seems that a curse has fallen on Hazard as it happened before with other Madridistas such as Prosinecki, Woodgate, Robben or Bale. The Belgian only missed 20 games at Chelsea in seven seasons. In the last two, he was only out for three. On the other hand, in one course and the start of the other in Madrid (one year and two months) he has been out due to injury 23 games.
But beyond that bad luck that nobody could intuit, it
worries in high places that the problem will become chronic.
He could even change Jovic's transfer plans in this final part of the market,
as Zidane wanted the Belgian as Benzema's attacking partner to play with two forwards and Jovic (as he has done against Betis and Valladolid) can play that role.
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The entry of Meunier unleashed the evils of the Belgian attacker, who was signed by Madrid for 100 million fixed euros plus 40 in variables when he only had one year left on his contract at Chelsea.
It was on November 26 at 2-2 against PSG.
But before that game, Hazard had already missed five of 13 played in the league.
He came to the preseason with a clear overweight that the same player came to admit.
"On a bad day I weigh 77 kilos, but this summer I reached 80 and lost them in ten days," acknowledged the attacker in L'Equipe,
who charges 15 million net per campaign, the salary cap in which Bale was also and in which Ramos is.
After this summer the scene has been repeated ... Hazard arrived in Valdebebas overweight.
The problem.
Beyond the risk for injuries that this factor entails,
Hazard's problem, according to the entity's doctors, is that he has been able to change his footprint due to the discomfort he continues to feel in his ankle when he puts great strain on it.
After two periods of absence due to the fissure in the distal fibula of his right ankle, Hazard
decided to undergo surgery so as not to jeopardize the European Championship that was to be played last summer and which was postponed due to the pandemic.
He underwent the surgery in Dallas on March 5.
The person in charge of carrying out the operation has been the renowned doctor
Eugene Curry.
The key point of the operation was on the titanium plate that the player has been installed since June 2017, when he was operated on for a broken ankle.
That first surgery, as shown by the few games he missed with Chelsea, left him in perfect shape.
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Now, Hazard's situation begins to be surrounded by a certain mystery.
It was the announcement of his last muscle injury.
He trained normally in the previous meeting, Zidane summoned him at 15:30 and it was not until the next day when the Belgian alerted that he was injured (he did not do it in training, being a muscular issue).
The reaction of the club has been quick: there is no longer any rush with his reappearance.
He will not even rush to get to the Classic on October 24.
Zidane interprets that the season is long and prefers to have a Hazard with the optimal percentage of fat in his body and with the full confidence of not having discomfort in the operated ankle.
"He
has had a big problem," the technician managed to escape at a press conference.
And he will wait patiently for Hazard from Chelsea.