Eden Hazard opens up on injury struggles and reveals when he plans to retire

Eden Hazard's move to Real Madrid is looking more and more like a disaster as time goes on, but despite being ruled out for the foreseeable with another medium-term injury, the forward is looking on the bright side.

The Belgian joined Madrid in the summer of 2019 but has missed more than 50 games due to a variety of fitness problems, with the latest coming last week when the club confirmed he had sustained a muscular injury.

Concerns have been raised about his general fitness too, with Burger King even getting in on the act (don't laugh) with a pointed dig.

Hazard, though? Not letting any of it get him down.

In an interview with On the Front Foot, the 30-year-old said he is using his enforced downtime to spend some quality time with his family - something that is helping him stay patient as he fights to return to fitness.

He is quoted as saying: "I’m lucky that when I’m injured and stuck at home, I have my family to get me through. It’s not the end of the world for me because I can spend time with my kids, when you’re alone and injured it can be tough but I’m lucky that I have my family to support me.

"When you’re injured there’s only so much you can do, you can work to get better faster but the injuries I have had to just take time to heal. I just have to wait, work hard to get better and when I’m at home I can enjoy the time with my family."

Hazard's form when he has been available hasn't been great, leading to suggestions he is past the peak he displayed with Chelsea which earned him a dream £100m move to the Bernabeu 18 months ago. But he has no plans to wind down, suggesting that he could play well into his 30s.

He went on: "I’m just hoping to play football for as long as possible, and I always try to enjoy myself on the pitch.

"When it comes to the end of my career I can look back at my achievements, but my priority now is playing well and enjoying my football. I don’t think about where I will be in the next few years, I try to focus on the next match and the next training session.

"I’ve only just turned 30 so as long as my body feels good, hopefully I can keep playing for at least another five or six years."