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“Before you know, he’s gone” – Wilfred Ndidi names retired Real Madrid winger as his toughest opponent

Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder, Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi, has named for Belgium and Chelsea winger, Eden Hazard as the toughest opponent he’s faced in the English Premier League, Soccernet.ng reports.

The former Real Madrid man donned the blue colours of Chelsea between the summer of 2012 and 2019, winning the English Premier League and the UEFA Europa League twice.

Ndidi joined Leicester City in the winter transfer window of 2017, and despite playing against the Belgian very few times, named him as the toughest ever opponent he faced.

“Eden Hazard. He’s so good. He was so strong and he was so sharp. When you’re getting close to him, he can just change direction and then changing direction. He’s so sharp, before you realize, he’s gone,” Ndidi said in an interview with the Uncut show on the English Premier League’s YouTube channel.

During his time in the English top-flight, Hazard was widely regarded as the third best player in the world behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and was expected to move into the next gear after he left Chelsea for Real Madrid in 2019.

The move to Spain turned out to be the worst stint of his career, as he struggled to make an impact with Los Blancos. He struggled to maintain fitness due to multiple injuries and gained too much weight, scoring just seven goals and providing twelve assists in 76 games for Real Madrid.

Adefolahan Guerreiro

Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria. With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience. He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.

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