Revealed: The Key Role That Ex-Arsenal Misfit Gervinho Played In Eden Hazard’s Move To Chelsea

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Ivorian was a team-mate of the Belgium’s in northern France at the time. 

Former Arsenal forward Gervinho played a key role in helping arch rivals Chelsea sign playmaker Eden Hazard from Ligue 1 side Lille two years ago, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.

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The brilliant Belgium international, who has been one of the undoubted stars of the Premier League for the high-flying west London club so far this season, moved to Stamford Bridge from the northern France outfit in June 2012 for a whopping transfer fee of £32m.

However, in the months leading up to the 23-year-old’s departure from Lille, speculation was rife across the Continent regarding just which European giants Hazard would sign for, with the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid and Arsenal all understood to be competing for the player’s signature.

And now following a recently published book by the former Lille head coach Rudi Garcia, it has been revealed just how the Blues ended up getting their man, with Ivory Coast international Gervinho playing a key role.

As it turns out, Gervinho took a phone call from compatriot Didier Drogba while in the Lille dressing room.

“Pass the phone to him,” Drogba is said to have demanded, referring to Hazard. “There’s someone who wants to talk to him over here.”

And when the phone reached Hazard, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was on the other end, with the Russian oligarch then promising to triple Hazard’s wages if he agreed to join the Blues, something he did the following year.