Manchester United was one of those in the race to sign Eden Hazard in 2012 and eventually lost to Chelsea, where the Red Devils refused to hand over a backhand payment to the former Belgian agent
Manchester United missed the signing of Eden Hazard in 2012 because they refused to pay his agent a secret multi-million payment. The Red Devils belonged to those who chased the Belgian more than ten years ago.
The Hazard with Lille exploits had seen a number of Premier League clubs observed and United agreed with the French club. Personal conditions were also sorted, but his then agent, John Bico, then demanded an extra payment of the books The Times reports.
It is claimed that Bico had proposed to club officials that they pay him both £ 1 million and a few million more, which would come directly from the owners instead of club accounts. United made it clear that they would not agree with the deal, which would have been a clear infringement of the rules of Premier League and UEFA. A financial agreement of that type would have bypassed club accounts and not counted for the calculations of financial fair play.
United's position meant that they stopped from the race to sign Hazard and entered Chelsea and his services for £ 32 million launched only a few days after winning the Champions League. A Premier League study continues in the midst of accusations that in 2013 an offshore company of Roman Abramovich, the at that time of Chelsea, has made a payment of € 7 million (£ 6 million) to Bico via a Dubai company.
There is no sign that Hazard knew anything about the demands of his agent.
Hazard was the most important target of United that summer with their interest in him those years date. Jimmy Ryan, their director of youth football at that time, who was also near Sir Alex Ferguson, kept Hazard an eye on since he was a 15. He saw him when he was in Lille's books and believed that he was developing into one of the best players in Europe.
After Abramovich had sold the blues to the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital Consortium their due diligence during their takeover, the new owners led to reporting the club itself for alleged irregular payments, connected to transfers during the previous property, to the Premier League.
The failure of United to sign Hazard saw them instead behind Shinji Kagawa, who excelled in Borussia Dortmund. Hazard was now an immediate hit in the English top flight and, three years after it at the blues, he was named PFA player of the year when Chelsea won the title.
Hazard would leave Stamford Bridge in 2019 after a number of successful seasons in West London. He is considered one of the most impressive foreign imports of the modern era, but his switch to Real Madrid did not work for both parties and he retired in 2023.
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