How Gervinho inadvertently helped Chelsea sign Eden Hazard

File photo: Gervinho and Eden Hazard at Lille

Revelations from the autobiography of former Lille boss Rudi Garcia have revealed that former Arsenal winger Gervinho may have inadvertently helped one of the London club’s main title rivals to capture the talisman that is currently leading their fight against the Gunners. The Roma winger may not have brought much joy to the Premier League on the pitch, but it appears that his greatest contribution to English football could have been the unwitting role that he played in the transfer of Eden Hazard from Lille to Chelsea.

The Ivory Coast international helped the move by facilitating a 2011 phone call between Roman Abramovic and Hazard over a move, which took place in the Lille dressing room. Gervinho is said to have taken a call from his international teammate and former Chelsea forward Didier Drogba, who told him to pass the phone to Hazard – then a teammate of Gervinho’s at the French side.

However, by the time that Gervinho had done as he was asked and put Hazard on the line the voice at the other end of the line belonged to Chelsea boss Abramovic, who allegedly told Hazard that he would triple his wages should he join the Stamford Bridge outfit.

The call took place a year before Hazard eventually moved to Chelsea, who secured their man through the more conventional lines of negotiation. However it does provide an interesting snapshot of the networking and negotiation that goes on at football clubs, with the anecdote giving Gervinho a footnote at the bottom of the story of a player that many are tipping as a future Ballon D’or winner.