Roberto Martinez is in contention to replace Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid with Tottenham Hotspur facing a battle for the former Everton manager, as reported by ESPN.
And there’s one man at the Santiago Bernabeu who would give the one-time Wigan Athletic boss his seal of approval.
After two injury-stricken years in the Spanish capital, a leaden-footed Eden Hazard is in grave danger of going down in Real Madrid history for all the wrong reasons.
But could Martinez drag the £100 million superstar out of his pit of despair, ensuring Hazard’s dream move doesn’t become even more of a nightmare?
“He has been a very good leader,” Martinez said of the man who captained his Belgium side to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, via the Daily Mail.
“There are many different types of leaders but I think what Eden Hazard brings is someone you can get influenced by and who’s an incredible source for younger players and who has been someone who can never, ever get affected by the pressure of the game or the pressure of the situation.”
The pressure certainly seems to be weighing heavy on Hazard these days, however. He’s not the first footballing superstar to flounder in the Real Madrid goldfish bowl.
And with ESPN reporting Real have discussed the idea of handing Martinez his biggest ever coaching role, it’s difficult to dispel the notion hiring the smooth-talking Spaniard would be driven by a desire to coax every ounce of mercurial brilliance out of Hazard’s prize-fighter frame.
The Sun recently reported Tottenham had identified the forward-thinking, principled Martinez as a potential successor to Jose Mourinho in north London, five years after the Catalan was shown the door by Everton.
Martinez would be tempted by a chance to show the Toffees how much he has developed as a coach in the past half-decade.
But the chance to replace Zidane and reunite with Hazard at arguably the biggest football club in world football feels like an opportunity too good to turn down.
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