Chelsea star Eden Hazard has put any contract talks with the club on hold despite the fact that Blues want to make him their highest-paid player.
The Belgian has been a vital part of Chelsea’s team since his arrival at the club from LOSC Lille in 2012. Since then, Eden Hazard has made more than 250 appearances for the Blues scoring nearly eighty goals and has even managed to win two Premier League titles, even being named in the Premier League team of the year on four separate occasions. However, now it looks like his career in blue might be coming to an end.
According to reports from the Mirror and the Times, the Premier League champions are willing to make the 26-year-old their highest paid player, with a deal worth at-least £300,000-a-week. However, while Hazard has said that he’s content at Stamford Bridge and has no intention of moving right now, he has not yet put pen to paper on the new deal.
It looks like that Hazard is still holding out to see if Real Madrid’s interest in him will ever become something more than rumors or not. With four-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo turning a corner, both Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid see Hazard as one of the closest like-for-like replacements for the 32-year-old alongside Neymar and Marco Asensio.
However, he’s not the only Chelsea player that Los Blancos and Zidane are after, as they look for a replacement for Keylor Navas as well. While the Costa-Rican goalkeeper has done relatively well for the Santiago Bernabeu club, Los Blancos want a world-class goalkeeper and have thus turned their eyes towards both Thibaut Courtois and David De Gea.
Antonio Conte on Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard:
"Thibaut is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Maybe the best now. And also Eden. But I think the club knows very well the importance of these two players and I think they are very happy to play for this club." pic.twitter.com/uzOBGOixM2
— Talk Chelsea (@talkchelsea) December 4, 2017
But while Manchester United, have outrightly refused to sell their incredible Spanish stop-stopper, both Los Blancos and Zidane have no problem, with going after Chelsea’s other Belgian superstar. The 25-year-old Thibaut Courtois sees his contract expire at the end of next season and the Blues want to tie both the Belgium players to a long-term contract.
During his post-match interview, Antonio Conte said “The club knows very well the importance of these two players, I think these two players are very happy to play for this club. ‘It is normal during the season to have the contact between the player – or the agent of the player – and the club. I hope that at the end, Thibaut will sign his contract.”
Author’s take:
Losing Eden Hazard would be a big blow for the Chelsea, no matter who his replacement at the club is. A player of that caliber and talent will be very hard to replace especially in this market, but that’s a potential future that the Blues have to prepare for.
But despite that, the Belgian has committed to the club and the fact that the 26-year old’s contract only expires in 2020, maybe outdone by the fact that Eden Hazard idolizes Los Blancos manager Zinedine Zidane which could complicate things.
