Newcastle United ace and ex-Toon favourite post brilliant Eden Hazard messages following retirement decision

Eden Hazard has announced his retirement from football aged 32 - and former teammates and opponents alike have shared messages of support for the Belgian international. One of those to share his memory of Hazard was former Newcastle United striker Demba Ba.

Ba played alongside Hazard for Chelsea after leaving the north east and has spoken very highly of his former teammate following his decision to retire from football. Taking to X, Ba posted a memory of Hazard’s generosity, describing him as ‘a man of great value’.

Ba wrote: ‘Me and my boy we go way back. Back in 2015, I’ve organized a charity dinner and this man came with me at event before everyone arrived and left after everyone was gone. Showing me the upmost support before driving me back at my hotel in the middle of the night. This is more than football !!! @hazardeden10 is a man of great value. Welcome to your new club. Retirement is marvelous’

Meanwhile, Isaac Hayden has also taken to social media to wish Hazard well in his retirement. Although Hayden never played alongside the winger, he did play on opposite sides on a few occasions - contests the Belgian often came out on the winning side of.

Hayden posted a photo of him in action with Hazard whilst playing for Newcastle United. Unfortunately for the former Arsenal man, the photo picked was of Hazard skipping past his failed attempt of a challenge. Hayden was able to see the funny side of it though, captioning the photo with ‘special player, happy retirement’ alongside laughing emojis.