Eden Hazard admits he is struggling to choose between Chelsea and Real Madrid as he contemplates his future.
While he is happy at Stamford Bridge and ready to enter contract negotiations, he still thinks about Madrid – the club he has dreamed of since he was a child.
The Belgian said: “Sometimes in my head, I wake up in the morning and think I want to go. Sometimes I think I want to stay. It is a hard decision. It is my future. I am 27 and I will turn 28 in January.”
Hazard’s Chelsea future looked bleak after the World Cup as he confirmed the Bernabeu was his preferred destination.
The Blues, however, clung onto their prized possession and he has since produced the best football of his career, returning seven goals in his opening eight Premier League games.
He stresses that he is not unhappy at Chelsea, who currently sit joint-top of the league with Manchester City and Liverpool, but he knows there may only be one big move left in his career.
“That’s why I spoke after the World Cup and I said that I think it is time to change because I played a great World Cup,” he said.
“I am really in the game, I am playing good football at the moment. Real Madrid is the best club in the world. I don’t want to lie today. It is my dream since I was a kid. I was dreaming about this club. We will see.”
He added: “It is also when you have a dream and you want to make it happen. It is like I have said a lot of times: if I leave I will be happy; I know if I stay I will be happy. It is not like if I go I am happy and if I stay that I am unhappy.”
Hazard, who was on target yet again as Chelsea beat Southampton on Sunday, is wary of his legacy at the club.
The winger is desperate not to sour his relationship with the fans after watching the fallout from Thibaut Courtois messy Madrid switch.
“I don’t want that,” Hazard said. “I want what’s good for me, but I want what’s good for the club because the club has given me everything. I don’t want to say: ‘Yes, I am signing a new contract’ and then in the end I don’t end up signing”
Remarkably, Chelsea are yet to offer their superstar a new deal since talks over a fresh £300,000-a-week contract collapsed in December 2017.
Hazard has less than two years remaining on his current deal and says he will talk whenever the club are ready.
“I could talk now,” he said. “If they come to me, then I will talk. I don’t want to say that I am not talking with the club or the owner. I am talking a lot with them.
“I am happy and I don’t need anything,” he said. “It is not trophies. Of course, when you play, you want to win but I just want to enjoy things on the pitch, like I am at the moment. Then I am happy.”