After being presented to 50,000 supporters at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday night Eden Hazard declared: I've come to be the best player in the world.
He was presented without a shirt number and joked: 'I've been lucky because I have been able to talk to Luka Modric through Mateo Kovacic and I asked him if could lend me the number 10 shirt and he said no.'
That raised a laugh and a relaxed Hazard grinned through his first press conference charming Madrid reporters as he had the supporters who half filled the Bernabeu and created a more impressive atmosphere than for some of last season's games.
The signing brought to an end a long courtship between Hazard and Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. 'I used to play with my brothers in the garden in a Madrid shirt,' he said.
'Zidane was my hero since I was a kid. Him being here was an important factor but I already wanted to play here.'
He was surprisingly frank about where he wanted to play: 'I like playing on the left or as a No 10,' he said. 'When you play for Real Madrid there is not one single star, the team is the star. I'm the new guy of the team.'
