The Ivory Coast international helped the move by facilitating a 2011 phone call between Roman Abramovic and Hazard over a move, which took place in the Lille dressing room. Gervinho is said to have taken a call from his international teammate and former Chelsea forward Didier Drogba, who told him to pass the phone to Hazard – then a teammate of Gervinho’s at the French side.
However, by the time that Gervinho had done as he was asked and put Hazard on the line the voice at the other end of the line belonged to Chelsea boss Abramovic, who allegedly told Hazard that he would triple his wages should he join the Stamford Bridge outfit.
The call took place a year before Hazard eventually moved to Chelsea, who secured their man through the more conventional lines of negotiation. However it does provide an interesting snapshot of the networking and negotiation that goes on at football clubs, with the anecdote giving Gervinho a footnote at the bottom of the story of a player that many are tipping as a future Ballon D’or winner.
0 votes
