West Ham coach Kevin Nolan is prepared to hand Eden Hazard a trial at the Premier League club, despite the Belgian announcing his retirement from professional football.
Hazard called time on his career on Tuesday, three months shy of his 33rd birthday. He left his final club Real Madrid over the summer, and was the subject of reported interest from clubs in several countries before deciding to call it quits.
Nolan came up against Hazard on multiple occasions during the forward's prime years at Chelsea, including in the 2014-15 season when the ex-Bolton man captained West Ham in a pair of defeats against the Blues. One of those, at Upton Park, saw Hazard score the only goal of the game for the eventual title winners, and Nolan believes his former rival still has more to give.
“I’d have the Hazard of Chelsea at West Ham, yeah," Nolan told talkSPORT. "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!”
“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.”
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“I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a little bit of a reverse on that in the next six months to a year,” Nolan added. The 41-year-old made comparisons with Paul Scholes, who announced his retirement before returning to help Manchester United win the Premier League in the 2012-13 season.
"He got a phone call from Sir Alex [Ferguson] and he was like ‘oh yeah, I will come back’," Nolan recalled. "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’.”
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Kevin Nolan and Eden Hazard faced off on the pitch more than once (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)Hazard joined Chelsea from Lille in 2012, shortly after the London side won the Champions League under Roberto Di Matteo, and stayed until 2019. During that time he won two Premier Leagues, two domestic cups and two Europa League titles, but his four years with Real Madrid were plagued by injury and loss of form.
"You must listen to yourself and say stop at the right time," he said when announcing his retirement. "After 16 years and more than 700 matches played, I have decided to end my career as a professional footballer. I was able to realise my dream, I have played and had fun on many pitches around the world.
"During my career I was lucky to meet great managers, coaches and teammates - thank you to everyone for these great times, I will miss you all. I also want to thank the clubs I have played for: LOSC [Lille], Chelsea and Real Madrid; and thank the RBFA for my Belgian Selection.
"A special thank you to my family, my friends, my advisors and the people who have been close to me in good times and bad. Finally, a huge thank you to you, my fans, who have followed me for all these years and for your encouragement everywhere I have played. Now is the time to enjoy my loved ones and have new experiences. See you off the field soon my friends."
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