Hazard welcome on trial at West Ham as first-team coach predicts retirement U-turn
First-team coach Kevin Nolan insists Eden Hazard would be welcome on trial at West Ham.
The Chelsea legend hung up his boots at the age of 32 on Tuesday after failing to find a new club following his departure from Real Madrid.
Hazard called time on his career this week
But Nolan predicts a U-turn for the ex-Belgian captain and insists he would happily give Hazard a chance to prove himself at the London Stadium.
When asked if West Ham would be interested in taking the former Premier League star out of retirement, Nolan told talkSPORT Drive: “I’d have the Hazard of Chelsea at West Ham, yeah.
“I’m sure if he wanted to come and trial we’d, I mean, I’d certainly be willing to. I don’t know about the gaffer [David Moyes].
“But I’d certainly want to trial him!”
Nolan continued: “Some of the best years in the Premier League, he’s been part of and some of the best goals.
“It’s sad that at 32 he’s decided to bow out in all honesty because I believe someone of his calibre of play could play at the top level for plenty more years.”
Nolan added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a little bit of a reverse on that in the next six months to a year.”
When challenged on that view by host Andy Goldstein, Darren Bent quickly chimed in to suggest that maybe Nolan is keeping something under wraps.
“Is he going West Ham?!” Goldstein joked, as Nolan cracked up in response. “Are you getting Harry Maguire and Eden Hazard? Bit of breaking news there.”
Nolan laughed and responded: “I just think at 32, he’s just put out that he’s retired. There’s been so many times, I remember when [Paul] Scholes done it.
“Then he got a phone call from Sir Alex [Ferguson] and he was like ‘oh yeah, I will come back’. I just think something like that could happen with Hazard because someone is probably willing to give him the opportunity to say ‘go on, come in and play for us for six months’.”
In his time at Stamford Bridge, Hazard won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, an EFL Cup and two Europa League titles, as well as scoring 110 goals in 352 appearances.
Hazard then joined Real Madrid for a fee worth an initial £88.5million, but form and fitness stopped him from hitting the heights that he was clearly capable of reaching.
