Even though the whole team is under-performing, Chelsea still have to look onto their long-term future despite the squad's poor performances. And according to the London Evening Standard, they are looking to lock Brazilian midfielder Ramires in a new four-year deal.
Ramires was one of Juventus targets in the last transfer window for the midfield after the departure of Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo, while Paul Pogba leaving the Old Lady was also a possibility. But according to the Standard report, José Mourinho doesn't want to let go of the versatile player.
Chelsea is supposedly offering Ramires a £70,000-per-week contract over four years, which will see the deal ending in 2019. As of now, Ramires is under a contract signed in 2012 that will expire in 2017, earning £55,000-per-week according to our FFP database.
With the whole team under-performing, it might sound counter-productive to offer a new deal to a player that has been arguably playing as poorly as everyone else. But in this case, Ramires' new deal doesn't seem to be a reward for form but rather a matter of opportunity as he's still a useful player despite his technical limitations. We should still hope that Ruben Loftus-Cheek and other Chelsea prospects will manage to break though the first-team's midfield, especially considering the poor performances from this sector this season.