Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Eden Hazard: Who will be the perfect fit at Real Madrid? 

Eden Hazard

Chelsea FC v Huddersfield Town - Premier League

Real Madrid we chasing a certain Brazilian last year until they saw this Belgian perform at the World Cup. Madrid did bid for Hazard but Roman Abramovich reportedly rejected the bid especially after he lost Courtois to them. They chased a bird in the bushes and lost one which was at their fingertips, ended up with absolutely nothing last season. This season they have been more direct towards him but yet again, the management likes Mbappe, Zidane likes what he is seeing from Mane.

Talk about Hazard, he can cover a lot of positions in the forward line. A right winger, a left-winger, if needed as a striker, or as a false-9 where Maurizio Sarri has tried him quite a number of times. He has everything that you need from a winger. Pace, dribbling, shooting from distance, finishing, almost complete. Unlike the other prospects in the radar, Hazard is actually the one willing to join the Los Blancos.

Zidane's Madrid and Hazard's compatibility

When it comes to Zidane's Madrid, it is more about direct football, rather than tactical masterclass. If you play, then play to win, doesn't matter if you have 70% or 50% possession of the ball. Madrid holds possession in the area just ahead of the mid-line, if possible, which generally is due to the capability of their midfielders. Then the progression happens, not necessarily through the center. Most occasions, it would be through one side of the pitch, completely cutting off the other side. Then the finalization comes in, the fullback advances, the hounds at the far post, cross and finish.

This is Zidane's Madrid from when Ronaldo was available where crosses turn to goals more often than not. This won't be Zidane's tactical system with the current squad and neither with Hazard. Unlike Ronaldo, who relies on off the ball movements, Hazard is a great on-ball player. If you aren't utilizing Hazard's talent on the ball, you are doing nothing with him.

Hazard is more or less poised to take on the left side of the field, although he would be happy to run along the right side as well. With Hazard, this is the first thing to sort out. Which wing do you play him in? It doesn't matter which. It ultimately comes down to which winger you want to bench from the current team. If you are moving Vazquez to the bench then Hazard plays on the left, if Vinicius, then he plays on the right.

Also, Hazard will rely on moving centrally and dribbling all the way inside the box. And maybe it is just from his Chelsea days, we haven't seen Hazard link that much with his fullbacks. He links with other players in the forward line and the advancing midfielders, but not the fullbacks. There is hardly a situation where we see Hazard lays the ball off to the overlapping fullback, also because the fullback hardly overlaps at Chelsea. Even in the Belgium National side, he isn't used to a connection with the fullbacks.

So, if you are playing him on the left side, Marcelo's contribution from the wider areas is bound to go down. Unless you have a great header of the ball, there is no point in crossing when you can just pass to Hazard ahead and watch the show unfold. You can either put that as a good thing or you can equally state that as a bad thing. If Eden gets the ball, his first thought is to dribble inside the box or dribble and set a teammate up. It is never to get the ball and lay it off to the overlapping player and wait for the cutback.

That said, even though the fullback's contribution would go down, it won't harm the team. Hazard doesn't fluff the passes or the finishes. The only problem is that if he doesn't find a way inside, he has to adjust to the Spanish style and learn to link up with Marcelo. He wouldn't find it as easy to dribble with intensely pressing and aggressive defense as he does with the deep blocking and physical English defenses. He runs at English defense but won't be running like that against Barcelona.

Anyhow, if you want to get 50 goals a season, he can get you that. He can score about 35 in a season, and also set up about 15 in a season. This is your go-to man for getting goals.