United claim they made the decision to withdraw from discussions over the purchase of Pedro, with their declaration that they were no longer interested in the player coming after news broke that he had agreed to join Chelsea. Sadio Mane, who has been linked to United, is somewhat alike, but Pedro will not pick the ball up and run at players in the same way. Manchester City were also interested, but Pedro had his reservations about a move there because he felt he did not have a clear role in that team.
Advertisement
Before the season started this looked like a routine win for the champions, but little has gone according to plan for Chelsea so far this term.
While Hazard has become synonymous with Chelsea’s left wing over the past three seasons, our right wing has been a revolving door of failed hopes and square pegs in round holes.
The 24-year-old reiterated his manager Jose Mourinho’s unhappiness at the results the Blues have endured in their first 2 fixtures. “Our job is try to get the players we think are good for us”. This week we got a very good young left-back that we need, with potential that we believe can be developed. Everybody has to be better.
Van Gaal also staunchly insisted that United had decided against signing Pedro – rather than having been caught out prevaricating over the deal only to be gazumped by Chelsea, who quickly secured the Spanish worldwide from Barcelona by triggering his euros 30?million (pounds 21.4?million) release clause.
“I’m not surprised [at how hard it has been]”. The goalkeeper has not played this season after the manager said he was not focused because of transfer speculation linking him to Real Madrid in his native Spain.
“We want to do better and there is only one way, which is to work well and better than ever, which we did”.
“For me everything started with the fact that finally we understood that the player was ready to leave the club of his dreams, the club of his heart, where he played since he was a kid and where he won everything”.
“When you play with Chelsea, you want to play with big players”, added Hazard.
Chelsea have been able to bring in two new signings in the closing stages of the transfer window.
Along the same vein, he also touched upon what his goals are and where he wants to be headed in the upcoming season and his career path.
Advertisement
For a player to leave a major club such as FC Barcelona, Mourinho acknowledges that this is due to an ambition to not only win trophies, but to grow as a footballer. This is my challenge now.
