How Real Madrid FINALLY landed Eden Hazard after 10 years of trying

Eden - the new beginning for Real Madrid. That's how Eden Hazard's arrival from Chelsea is being greeted in the Spanish capital.

No one knows better than Zinedine Zidane that the genesis of 28-year-old's move to Spain goes back at least a decade. This record breaking transfer for Real Madrid has been 10-years in the making.

Zidane and Hazard's paths crossed in 2010 when still working in an unofficial capacity for Real Madrid despite having retired from playing for them, Zidane became enamoured with two young talents coming through in France.

One was Raphael Varane who he ended up calling to persuade to join Madrid and not Manchester United and the other was Hazard.

Watching the young Belgian at Lille, Zidane was left in no doubt that the kid with the number 26 on his back was destined for great things. He alerted Madrid to the 19-year-old but their attitude at the time was - why buy him now?

Better let someone else take the gamble and snap him up when he is more established. Two years later when the time came for Lille to sell Hazard - by now wearing number 10 and aged 21 - Zidane again urged Real Madrid president Florentino Perez to bring him to the Bernabeu but with Jose Mourinho at the helm Real Madrid signed Luka Modric instead and Zidane watched one of his favourite players move to London.

This was already very much a mutual appreciation society as Hazard had been a fan of Zidane long before the Madrid and France legend had noticed him. World Cups mark all young fans and Eden was seven when Zidane was winning the tournament for France in 1998.

Hazard was an excited kid watching at home with Thorgan and Kylian and mum and dad Carine and Thierry who both played semi-professionally.

When the tournament kicked-off his loyalties were split between his own country and that of his hero and with Belgium out by the group stage failing to win a single game it was a small step to adopting the host nation France.

He wore Zidane's France number 10 shirt as the now Real Madrid coach had his finest hour as a player scoring twice in the final win over Brazil. Hazard would end up leaving Belgium to play in France signing for Lille, debuting for them while only 16.

In 2011 he led them to the double and was named best player in France. Zidane's original tip-off to Madrid the previous year resonated with Perez but not enough that he moved to bring the youngster to Spain - the stars were now getting closer together but they still were not quite aligned.

By 2016 things moved forward a little further. Rafa Benitez was fired by Real Madrid and Zidane was given the keys to the front door - no more, just an occasionally listened to adviser, no more a mere cog in Jose Mourinho's backroom staff, no more just Carlo Ancelotti's assistant hugging him on the touchline as Madrid won the Champions League in 2014, no more the B-team coach trying to bring through young players while competing in the third tier in Spain's 'Segunda B'; he was now the main man and again he told the club to sign Hazard.

It was now the start of the 2016-17 season and he told Perez he wanted only one player. The petition was shelved - filed under 'maybe next season. The club had signed Marco Asensio instead and with Isco and James Rodriguez already in the squad Zidane had to take another rebuttal with reluctant acceptance.

The following season Real Madrid did not need Zidane to tell them about Hazard. He had second-top scored behind Diego Costa as Chelsea won the league. But the price was now high. They considered paying it but were sidetracked by the emergence of Kylian Mbappe who they believed they could sign for 180m euros.

When the Mbappe deal collapsed because Paris Saint Germain came along with more money for Monaco they never returned to Hazard who had by this time dropped enough hints that he wanted to move to Real Madrid - risking his relationship with Chelsea supporters in the process.

Last season Madrid won the Champions League for the third consecutive time but despite becoming the first coach to achieve such a feat Zidane was still not trusted with the remit of planning the next season. Again he wanted Hazard, again he would be turned down. He quit and Hazard stayed at Chelsea.

When Zidane returned to the club in March after Santiago Solari was sacked he was saving the club from destroying itself in a tornado of in-fighting in the dressing room and a failure to compete on the pitch, he originally turned them down.

When they went back to him begging they did not go empty-handed. There were major 'concessions' and one of the key concessions was to allow him to pick the transfer targets. He did not have to think about his first choice - it had to be the signing of the kid he first saw aged-19 at Lille.

And Hazard - 20 years on from the posters on the wall and the France number 10 shirt - was as keen as ever to answer the call.

It remains to be seen if this kick-starts the biggest wave of Galatico signings since 2009 when Real Madrid broke the transfer record twice to bring first Kaka and then Cristiano Ronaldo, with Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso also arriving. A repeat looks unlikely because the days of Real Madrid negotiating huge bank credits on favourable terms in Spain look to be over.

The club has looked for cheaper younger players in recent seasons and the purchases so far this summer of Rodrygo Goes, Militao and Stefan Jovic are all in line with that policy. Lyon's Ferland Mendy could arrive too if he can come through a second medical on a troublesome hip.

At most there will be one more big fish dropped into the Madrid pool with President Perez wanting Christian Eriksen and Zidane preferring Paul Pogba. But Real Madrid will not be able to afford either unless they start to trim squad number now up in the last 30s and unless one of those departures is a big earner who commands a big transfer fee.

If they were to find someone willing to pay big money for Gareth Bale then a Galatico midfielder would be green-lighted but so far there have been no offers. With no money they would be at the mercy of Daniel Levy dropping his £100m asking price for Eriksen who at least seems to be gently trying to force his way out of the club.

If that all fails they may have to look elsewhere, bringing in a midfielder that better fits the profile of the other younger, more modestly priced signings.

The Hazard deal has cost Real Madrid a lot more than it would have done in 2010. And he is costing them a lot more than any other player would cost just a year from the end of a contract he has no plans to renew but Real Madrid need him now. The urgency is no longer Zidane's, the urgency is Madrid's and finally Hazard and Zidane can work together.

'Hazard is coming to be the new star of Madrid,' said Diario AS pundit Tomas Roncero after he watched him inspire Chelsea to win the Europa League in Baku.

'He will clean up the atmosphere at the club. Great players perform in finals and he did that. As Florentino Perez says he's a player who was born to play for Real Madrid.'