Eden Hazard has cost Real Madrid £4.2m per game, £39.6m for every goal and

Eden Hazard arrived at Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 overweight and his fitness levels two to three weeks behind the rest of his team-mates.  

A year and a half later, it’s not exactly got much better for the player who cost Real £88million – a staggering fee that will eventually rise to a whopping £150m.

Spanish newspaper Marca recently labelled Hazard’s time in Madrid as a ‘nightmare’. And at the weekend the 29-year-old fell to his lowest point when he came off 28 minutes into the 2-1 shock defeat against Alaves with a thigh injury.

Eden Hazard suffered his eighth injury blow in Real Madrid’s shock defeat by Alaves 

The 29-year-old is expected to be out of action until mid-December at the earliest

Hazard (right) arrived at Real with great expectations but has struggled for form and fitness

It was the eighth injury the former Chelsea star had suffered in 18 miserable months. 

Indeed, since leaving Stamford Bridge he has missed 35 matches, and even when he has returned to fitness he has only managed a maximum of three games before suffering setbacks. 

‘It seems like Eden Hazard’s injury woes at Real Madrid will never end,’ read the report in Marca’s Monday edition.

It is terribly frustrating not only for Hazard but for those who sanctioned the deal to make him the most expensive player in Real’s history.

Hazard hasn’t managed to play more than three games in a row since joining 18 months ago 

Head coach Zinedine Zidane has stuck by Hazard but the Real hierarchy have grown impatient  

Combine the £88m initial transfer fee and the £30.8m paid in wages (£400,000 per week over the last 77 weeks), Hazard has so far cost the Spanish champions an eye-watering £118.8m.

That’s £63,900 for every minute of the 1,859 he’s played, £4.2m for each of the 28 appearances he’s made, £39.6m for each of the three goals he’s scored and £29.7m for the three assists he’s provided. Those figures also don’t account for the bonus he would have been paid after Real pipped Barcelona to their 34th league title.

The shrewd thinking of Chelsea’s hierarchy, headed by Marina Granovskaia, also means Real will continue to fork out for Hazard well into next year. 

Given the way Granovskaia brokered the deal, Real have to continue paying Chelsea in instalments regardless of whether Hazard is fit and playing or not.