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Chelsea optimistic Eden Hazard will sign new £300,000-a-week deal and shine in the Champions League
Chelsea are optimistic Eden Hazard will sign a new £300,000-a-week contract and head coach Antonio Conte believes the Belgian is ready to take his career to “another level” in the Champions League.
Hazard knows that Chelsea want to reaffirm his position as the club’s highest earner with a huge pay rise and there is encouragement from both sides that the forward will sign an extension to his current deal that is due to expire in 2020.
Despite interest from Real Madrid, Hazard is known to be happy at Chelsea, where he was this summer joined by his 22-year-old brother Kylian, who was signed from Hungarian club Ujpest.
As Chelsea prepare for their toughest Champions League Group C assignment against Atletico Madrid, there is a feeling that, despite his recovery from ankle surgery that has restricted him to one start against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup, this is Hazard’s time to shine against Europe’s best.
“I think last season Eden played a really important season, played very well and was very important for us in winning the Premier League,” said Conte. “Last season, he showed in every game great talent, to be a really good player. A top player.
“I think this competition is very important for him, but I think it's important for the team, too. This competition brings you to another level. I think Eden has all the possibilities to do this. He's a really top player. Now he's totally fit and in contention for the game. I think it's the right moment.”
Hazard has been told he can win the Ballon d’Or at Chelsea, rather than needing to move to Atletico’s city rivals Real. But, to do so, he must step up his game on the biggest club stage.
The 26-year-old is set to share a pitch with another player tipped to eventually take on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the highest individual honour in football, Atletico’s Antoine Griezmann, who finished third in the 2016 Ballon d’Or.
Griezmann has played 35 times in the Champions League for Atletico scoring 15 goals, and finished as a runner-up with the Spanish club in the 2015/16 season.
For a player who Chelsea are prepared to make the best paid in the club’s history and who is valued at well over £100million, Hazard’s Champions League statistics make rather modest reading. Following Hazard’s Premier League title-clinching goal against Crystal Palace in May 2015, Cesc Fabergas said: “Next year he has to prove himself in the Champions League as well because he is capable of that and I am sure he will give many big nights of glory to this club.”
But Hazard failed to register a single goal in the Champions League in the season Fabregas referred to and you have to go back to March 2015 to find the last time he netted in Europe. In 31 appearances in the competition in total for Chelsea, Hazard has scored only five goals – two of which came against Maribor.
So far, the Champions League has largely been a source of frustration and angst for Hazard. Following the 2014 semi-final defeat to Atletico, former manager Jose Mourinho questioned his desire by saying: “Eden is the kind of player who is not so mentally ready to look back at his left-back and live his life for him.”
There were echoes of that criticism in Mourinho’s assessment of how Hazard had prepared for the 2015 trip to Dynamo Kiev after the former Lille player had been left on the substitutes’ bench for a comfortable Premier League victory over Aston Villa.
Having already warned that Hazard needed to “come in our direction and try to replicate the same work of Willian and Pedro”, Mourinho told reporters in Kiev: “How did he train? He trained like Eden.” But Mourinho’s words were overshadowed by the fact Hazard had liked an Instagram post linking him with a move to Real Madrid shortly before boarding Chelsea’s flight to Ukraine.
The question marks surrounding Hazard’s desire were eliminated during a superb first Premier League season under Conte, but a tongue-in-cheek assessment of himself suggested the pair may not share exactly the same philosophy.
Speaking to France Football, Hazard joked: “You don’t need that [tracking back]. You can write that. Don’t tell Conte, but you can write that it’s pointless. If you defend too much, you tire yourself out.
“If I’ve spent the whole game defending, forget about me being useful after the 60th minute and I’m quite fit.”
He added: ‘There are people who are meant to defend, while others are there to attack. I defend too. I don’t like it, but I have to with Antonio [Conte].”
Another player who struggled to make an impact for Chelsea in the Champions League is Diego Costa, who has completed his return to Atletico after spending the summer on strike in Brazil.
Costa cannot play for Atletico until January because of the Spaniards’ transfer embargo and Cesar Azpilicueta believes the fact the 28-year-old will be in the stands on Wednesday night is a boost for the Blues.
Conte reiterated the fact he will shake Costa’s hand if he bumps into the striker, while Azpilicueta said: “Diego has moved to a new club and we have to deal with it. I played with him for two years, we're Spanish team-mates and he's a top striker. Not to play against him is a little advantage for us, it’s better for us.”