Eden Hazard to Real Madrid: How starting XI may look after Chelsea ace completes transfer

Hazard is set to complete a move to Real Madrid in the coming days after the Spanish giants agreed a fee with Chelsea for the 28-year-old.

The winger scored 110 goals in 352 matches for the Blues since arriving from Lille in 2012, helping the west London side to two Premier League titles.

Hazard also won the Europa League twice and triumphed in the FA Cup and League Cup but is now seeking a new challenge and has long been linked with Los Blancos.

The Belgian’s Blues contract is due to expire in a year so Chelsea will be delighted to receive a figure as hefty as £88m for their star man, who could have left for free at the end of next season.

Hazard has previously described a move to Real as “a dream” and is set to link up with the likes of Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric in Madrid next season.

Zinedine Zidane, who returned to manage Real for a second spell in March, is likely to ring the changes after a disappointing 2018/19 campaign.

Real finished a distant third in La Liga, lost to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-finals and failed to retain the Champions League trophy as they floundered under Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari.

A shake-up of the ageing first-team is expected this summer, with the club already announcing the signings of Eder Militao and Luka Jovic.

Zidane is an admirer of Hazard and will certainly bring the Belgian straight into his starting XI alongside these new arrivals, but several key decisions still need to be made in other areas.

Thibaut Courtois and Keylor Navas are both competing for the No 1 jersey and hoping to establish themselves as first-choice, while Alvaro Odriozola is expected to displace Dani Carvajal at right-back in the long-term.

Militao could slot in alongside captain Sergio Ramos, who recently revealed he hopes to end his career at the Bernabeu, while Ferland Mendy is being targeted as competition for left-back Marcelo.

Real are also in the market for Paul Pogba as they look to freshen up an ageing engine room of Toni Kroos and Modric, with Zidane hoping to raise funds through the potential sales of Gareth Bale, Isco, James Rodriguez, Theo Hernandez and Navas.

Real Madrid predicted line-up in 2019/20

(4-3-3): Courtois; Odriozola, Militao, Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Vinicius, Hazard, Jovic

source: express.co.uk