Eden Hazard is getting his swagger back at the right time for Real Madrid

Eden Hazard is settling in and proving that he won’t be a bust at Real Madrid, his return to form is coming at the perfect time for Los Blancos.

The notoriously hard-to-please Madrid press were ready to make him their latest target. Eden Hazard had been Real Madrid’s marquee summer signing; a €100 million capture from Chelsea and, in the eyes of many, the natural successor to Cristiano Ronaldo at the Santiago Bernabeu. And yet the Hazard who started the season didn’t look to be the same player who had lit up the Premier League for years beforehand.

Injury sidelined the Belgian for the first few weeks of the season and when he returned questions were asked of his fitness and even his weight. Indeed, reports that Hazard reported for Real Madrid’s preseason tour of America overweight didn’t suggest that the former Chelsea man would hit the ground running at his new club, and so it panned out.

Comparisons were drawn with Philippe Coutinho – who had just departed a frustrating stint at Barcelona – as some began grumbling about writing Hazard off as a bust.

Now, however, with Hazard getting more and more game time under his loosening belt there are signs that he is starting to find his best form again and starting to become the player Real Madrid wanted all along. Hazard might never be the new Ronaldo, despite taking his trademark No. 7 shirt upon arriving in the Spanish capital, but a series of sparkling performances have made him a difference-maker again.

It started with an impressive display in a 5-0 win over Leganes for Real Madrid at the end of October, with Karim Benzema and Hazard showing signs of a burgeoning understanding. The 28-year-old followed this up with a couple of credible performances against Galatasaray and Real Betis and then tore Eibar to shreds in a 4-0 win before the international break.

Even when away with Belgium, Hazard kept his upward trajectory going with a brace in the Red Devils’ away victory over Russia. There’s a sharpness to his game that was missing just a few weeks ago. The swagger is back and that could be a pivotal development in Real Madrid’s season, with Zinedine Zidane’s side now seemingly on the straight and narrow again after a turbulent start.

Hazard still only has one goal in seven appearances for Real Madrid this season and so there is certainly still work to be done if he is truly fill the void left by Ronaldo at the club. For all that the Belgian has long been one of the brightest, most talented players in Europe, he has only once reached the 20-goal mark for a single league season and was with Lille back in 2011/12. His highest tally with Chelsea was 16 goals in 36 appearances in 2016/17.

Nonetheless, Hazard is far from being Real Madrid’s Coutinho. The difference between Hazard and Coutinho was that the former was signed with at least some sort of an idea over where he would fit in, while the latter never truly had a position at Barcelona. Plus, Coutinho was doomed by his failure to forge on-field relationships with the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Hazard already looks to be on the same wavelength as Benzema and a number of other Real Madrid players.

With Real Madrid now entering a crucial phase of their season, with matches against Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain coming in the next week before a packed schedule in the run up to Christmas and the winter break, the resurgence of Hazard couldn’t have happened at a better time.

The Champions League clash with PSG could come with added symbolism for the Belgian given the extent to which he looked out of place and out of depth in the 3-0 defeat Real Madrid suffered to the French champions earlier in the campaign.

More will still be expected of Hazard if he is to truly vindicate Real Madrid’s mega-money move for him, but he has at least provided some answers to the initial questions of him.