Reports from both England and Belgium are in agreement today: Eden Hazard is set to sign a new and very expensive five-year deal that will keep contracted to Chelsea through the end of the 2018/19 season. This is obviously great news -- having control of the winger for five more seasons means that the Blues won't be under any pressure regarding a sale for another two or three years, and with Hazard firmly entrenched as one of the best young attacking players on the continent having him committed to the club should make fans very happy.
Although the deal isn't 100 percent complete, we can expect it to be wrapped up soon. HLN claim that discussions, which started during the World Cup, to make Hazard Chelsea's highest-paid player of all time reached an advanced stage in August, and the Mail says that we'll have official news within the next few weeks. The price? A cool £200,000 per week, which is a staggering amount in real person terms* but not too bad when it comes to Europe's elite players.
*If there is anyone reading this who does not consider this a staggering amount, please email me and we can talk about the benefits of a premium subscription to We Ain't Got No History.
And weirdly, thanks to the mechanics of FFP accounting, giving Hazard a ~£20,000 per week raise actually saves Chelsea money. It allows the club to spread the remaining £19 million owed Lille on his transfer fee over the next five years rather than the next three, and the cash saved per week as a result more than offsets the raise. And since we definitely want Hazard around for the next five years, it's a win for all parties.