HAZARD EXCITED

Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard has had that he is very much looking forward to the friendly match against Roma, which will see him reunited with his former manager Rudi Garcia. Garcia was the manager of Lille when the Belgian playmaker was making his name. He made the £ 35 million move from the French club to Chelsea 12 months ago. Even as a youngster, Hazard was spoken of as the next big thing in world football. He has certainly not disappointed in his first season at Chelsea. He has scored more than 10 goals and contributed more than 20 in terms of assists.

Garcia was recently appointed as the manager of Roma, who have made plenty of business in the transfer window so far. They have also managed to keep hold of Italian international Daniele De Rossi amidst interest from Chelsea. They will be the final opponents for Chelsea in their pre-season tour of Asia and the United States. Chelsea have had a very promising pre-season and they have lost just one match. Hazard has said that preparations have been going extremely well and he is already looking forward to the start of the new season. Chelsea kick off the new campaign with a home match against newly promoted Hull city.

“We had four years together and won two trophies, the Ligue 1 and the Cup in the same season, the double. He is a very good coach, still quite young and a very nice guy. He was very good for me because I was very young and he showed me the right way to be, and gave me lots of confidence in my ability. It’s good for him to have another challenge at Roma, he did well with Lille and now wants to further his career at a big club. I think he is the first French trainer in Italy,” said Hazard.

CHELSEA CHASE ROONEY

Chelsea have been consistently linked with a move for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney. The club are believed to be in the process of preparing an official bid for the 27-year-old England international, who has publicly revealed that he wants to leave United. Even though Manchester United are firm on the fact that they would not sell Rooney, it is believed that they can be persuaded with a good offer. A number of Chelsea players like Petr Cech have come in support for a bid for Rooney and midfielder Eden Hazard is the latest to join the bandwagon.

The Belgian midfielder, who joined the club last year, has said that Rooney will be a great signing for Chelsea. He has praised the England international by saying that he would bring a lot to the club and he is also still young at 27 years of age. The 22-year-old has also revealed that current Chelsea manager José Mourinho tried to sign him three years ago when he was the manager of Real Madrid. Hazard was still playing for Lille and he was only 19 years old. Hence, he had to resist the offer of joining one of the biggest clubs in the world because he wanted to play regular first-team football.

“Rooney would be a brilliant signing. He’s a great player who has the experience and he’s still only young, at 27. But it’s not up to me. He told me he’d asked Lille, but I wanted to stay there until I was 21 and develop my game. I must have been 19 or 20 at the time. Real Madrid is a wonderful team, but I had so much still to prove in the French league. I stayed because I didn’t want to leave too early,” said the £ 32 million Chelsea signing.