Eden Hazard Real Madrid fee claim made by Spanish football expert

Real Madrid will sign Eden Hazard without having to pay a huge transfer fee.

That is the expectation of Spanish football expert Sid Lowe, who was speaking on the ESPN FC podcast.

The Belgium international has only 18 months left to run on his deal at Stamford Bridge, meaning the Blues risk losing him for free if they do not sell him this year.

Lowe said: "This has all the ingredients to happen and could happen very, very easily indeed."

"Eden Hazard has made no secret of his desire to play at Real Madrid [although] in fairness to Hazard, and I think it is probably worth pointing this out, he’s always been very cautious about how he says this."

"He’s always tried to be very respectful of Chelsea in the way that he says this."

"He’s always said that he won’t force a move, that he’ll listen to Chelsea, that he wants Chelsea to build a great team and maybe that would be sufficient to convince him to stay."

"But that recurring theme has recurred! It’s kept coming up again and again, ‘I’d like to go to Real Madrid’."

"Now of course we’re in a contractual situation, in which we’re getting very near to the end, to the extent that even [Chelsea boss Maurizio] Sarri is saying ‘look, we need to sort this out.’"

"Sorting this out basically means, let’s get clarity, let’s agree that it’s going to happen, let’s manage it in the best way."

"From Real Madrid’s point of view of course, this is very, very good news because you get an extraordinarily good player without having to pay a huge transfer fee for him."

"And for Real that’s genuinely important, look at their transfer dealings over the last four or five years - they are not spending €100m on players anymore."

"That’s just not the way they are going about things, so here at last is the opportunity to buy the kind of player who might be a €100m player but [without spending that] transfer fee. Admittedly of course, the wages will still be huge."

Lowe’s fellow pundit, former Newcastle and West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, also expects the move to happen.

He said: "I think Hazard is a great fit for Real Madrid, and at a good price."

"He has been more loyal to Chelsea, than maybe he should, or most other players in his position would."

"Especially given the kind of uncertainty around Chelsea, whether they’re going to win the league or finish outside the top four, you’re not quite certain."

"So Hazard looking at a club like Real Madrid and knowing they can be competing for European honours with some consistency makes a whole lot of sense for the player."