Chelsea star Eden Hazard's potential move to Real Madrid thrown into doubt

Former Chelsea and France defender Marcel Desailly is not sure Eden Hazard would be a success at Real Madrid and believes Diego Costa should leave Stamford Bridge if he wants to. Hazard has been heavily linked with a £100m to Zinedine Zidane's men, while the Blues recently slapped a monstrous £130m price tag on Costa amid interest from Chinese Super League clubs.

After a woeful campaign last year, Hazard has returned to his sparkling best under Antonio Conte and is one of the frontrunners to be named the Premier League's Player of the Year.

Despite his wondrous performances this season, Desailly is not sure if the Belgian has the requisite ability to be a star player at Real Madrid and believes a move to Spanish capital would be a huge risk for the former Lille starlet.

"I'm not sure Eden Hazard has that intention of being that top player, being first choice at Real Madrid," Desailly told talkSPORT. "Remember, Hazard has been in the Chelsea system for five years, and he's been doing well, but he's not been doing what we expected of him – scoring goals and being the equivalent of [Cristiano] Ronaldo or [Lionel] Messi, he's on and off.

"I'm not sure he's fully ready to change and take the risk, because he will want to play regular football. The same thing goes to [Antoine] Griezmann – is he really ready, does he have the desire to be in a competition for places at one of the top clubs and not playing football?"

Desailly hints that Hazard would be better off resisting the lure of Real Madrid and staying at Chelsea, but the World Cup winner says Spain international Costa should seek pastures new. The former Atletico Madrid hitman is unhappy in London and tried to engineer a move away from the Blues last summer, and he may well opt to do the same at the end of the campaign.

"He (Costa) should go if he feels [like it]," the Chelsea stalwart added. "Money now in modern football is high and if a Chinese or another rich team comes for him in the summer, he will have to go.

"Fans don't attach themselves to the players, it's the club, the club is the most important thing. But if I was him I would stay – nobody could put him in danger of losing his place at Chelsea."