Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has confessed he attempted to sign Eden Hazard from Chelsea before this summer.
The Belgian joined Madrid for a club record fee of €100m from Chelsea, with a potential €20m extra in additional performance related bonuses, should he hit the ground running in Madrid.
“It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time,” Perez told reporters, as cited by Marca.
“Today we welcome one of the best players in the world to our club. He will fulfil one of our dreams, people want to enjoy his talent and creativity.
“The members of this club and supporters will be by his side because they know that his football is special and different."
“A marvellous player has arrived, one who is different and capable of doing amazing things with a football.
“Footballers with a unique talent like Hazard have formed our great history. We've applied the philosophy of our president Santiago Bernabeu and our honorary president Alfredo Di Stefano, who changed the history of this club.
“Our story must continue with the best players in the world and Eden is in this bracket, he will fit our identity and our squad with Zinedine Zidane.”
