Chelsea confirm Eden Hazard deal

Chelsea have reached an agreement with Lille for the transfer of Eden Hazard, with the Belgium international having passed a medical and accepted personal terms at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard’s switch to the UEFA Champions League holders was revealed by the player via his Twitter account last Monday after a number of days of hinting over his next destination on the social networking site.

It has taken the West London side a further week to officially rubber-stamp the move for the highly-regarded 21-year-old, who can feature in a number of attacking roles.

Hazard was targeted by several of Europe’s leading sides after his displays for Ligue 1 outfit Lille last season, where he scored 21 goals and provided 18 assists in 48 games.

The Blues reportedly won a bidding war for his services with the fee reported to be £32million and are said to be paying him around £170,000 a week over a five-year contract.

The former Tubize player, who made his debut for Belgium at the tender age of 17, will join up with his new team-mates in July when they return for pre-season training.

Hazard told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted to finally arrive here, it’s a wonderful club and I can’t wait to get started.

“By anybody’s standards, winning two cups is a great achievement, so it will be a big challenge to do better.

“We’re equipped to do that, and all I can hope is that, while I’m here, we can win a lot of trophies. That’s what I’m aiming for.”

Hazard has followed in the footsteps of Lille team-mate Joe Cole in signing for Chelsea, with the former England international having done so eight years ago.

“I spoke to Joe Cole and what he said above all was that Chelsea was the right club for me,” Hazard said.

“As somebody who loves the club himself, he said he could really see me in the shirt so, when I see him next, I’ll tell him he was right.”

Manchester City and Manchester United were both believed to be in the running for his signature, but Chelsea have won the race for a man who can operate out wide, as a second striker, or in a more central role.

Hazard played the full 90 minutes for his country against England at Wembley on Saturday, but could not prevent Roy Hodgson’s side securing a 1-0 victory.