A new bombshell report claims Manchester United missed out on Chelsea legend Eden Hazard after ‘refusing’ to pay a ‘huge secret backhander’.
34-year-old Hazard called time on his professional career in 2023 after injuries marred his spell at Real Madrid.
Hazard’s supreme performance for Chelsea earned him a move to Real Madrid in 2019 in a huge deal, potentially worth around £124m including add-ons.
Chelsea fended off competition from several European rivals to sign Hazard for around £32m in June 2012 from Ligue Un outfit Lille.
Man Utd were reportedly among the clubs interested in Hazard before he headed to Stamford Bridge, and a new report has lifted the lid on how close the Red Devils came to signing the winger.
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The Times claims Man Utd ‘lost out on Hazard after refusing to pay an agent backhander’.
United ended up signing Shinji Kagawa as an alternative because Old Trafford chiefs ‘refused his agent’s demand for a secret multimillion-pound payment’.
The report explains:
‘United were within a whisker of signing the Belgium international in 2012 and had agreed a transfer fee with his club Lille and personal terms for the player, only for the move to break down after his then agent, John Bico, demanded a huge backhander.
‘Bico, who is now facing unconnected charges of financial crime in Belgium after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates late last year, suggested to club officials that they pay him £1million via the club and several million more direct from the owners.’
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‘That arrangement would have bypassed the club accounts as well as any Financial Fair Play calculations. Bico was told that United could never agree to such a deal, which would have been a clear breach of Premier League and Uefa rules.
‘There is no suggestion that Hazard, who instead joined Chelsea that summer, was aware of the demand by his agent or has been involved in any wrongdoing.’
The detailed report has also provided some details on Bico’s dealings with Chelsea.
‘A Premier League investigation is continuing into allegations that in 2013 an offshore company belonging to Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s owner at the time, made a €7million (£6million) payment to Bico via a Dubai company.
”Exactly what happened between Chelsea and Bico is the subject of a Premier League investigation that has been going on since 2022, shortly after Abramovich sold the club to the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital consortium. The due diligence process around the takeover led the new owners to report to the Premier League and Uefa that the club had made alleged irregular payments connected to transfers during the previous ownership.
‘The Times revealed in August 2023 that Chelsea were being investigated for payments to offshore entities related to the transfers of Willian and Samuel Eto’o from the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala in August 2013, among other deals.
‘Four months later, the Bureau for Investigative Journalism and The Guardian reported that a cache of leaked documents known as the “Cyprus Confidential” files included a contract showing a March 2013 agreement for Abramovich’s British Virgin Islands-registered company Leiston Holdings to pay €7million to a Dubai-based company called Gulf Value FZE for “advisory services […] related to […] sport research and consultancy”. The contract was signed on the company’s behalf by Hazard’s agent Bico, who is also known as Bico-Penaque.’
