:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/34139465/467822529.0.jpg)
It's yet another drawback of the World Cup that -- in addition to the delayed transfer proceedings -- players are constantly available to talk to the media. Normally, they'd be on vacation; now they're in training camps preparing for some of the most pressure-filled weeks of their lives.
Fortunately, not all media interviews go the way that Romelu Lukaku's tend to go, which have been once again cutting a path of destruction through the heart of the Chelsea fanbase. Instead, sometimes, we get wonderful words.
Eden Hazard in an interview with Dernière Heure: "I won't go to PSG. I stay at Chelsea." #cfc
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) June 10, 2014
This part we already knew, thanks to his TV interview last week, but it's certainly worth repeating over and over and over again, Eden, so thank you (not that it'll preclude the PSG rumors from resurfacing at some point in the future, I have no doubt.) But wait...here comes the BOOM:
Eden Hazard: "We're talking with Chelsea about a contract extension. But there's no hurry." (Source: DH)
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) June 10, 2014
The full interview is behind a paywall at Dernière Heure unfortunately, though both the Express and the Mail have a few more choice quotes from it.
"I am staying at Chelsea 100 per cent sure. Of course in football you never know but I am under contract with Chelsea and I want to stay there."
"And I am in discussions with Chelsea for a new contract. It is only the beginning of the talks right now so we have got time but the fact that Chelsea have offered me a new deal means that they have got a lot of confidence in me that I can do a good job and that they can count on me."
"PSG never made any suggestions to me personally."
Two years into his original five-year deal, the time is right for an extension. Both English papers are putting Hazard's new contract -- set to be signed after the World Cup -- at £200,000/week, which would represent about a 10% raise on his current salary and tie the superstar to Chelsea until 2019.
Do it.