Various transfer rumors have made their (un)welcome returns over the first few days of this most boring international break, but here’s something that’s far better than idle speculation about Alexis, Alex Sandro, or Ross Barkley, or whoever else. According to Nizaar Kinsella of Goal, Chelsea have once again made the contract extensions to Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois (in that order) a priority.
Chelsea will first work on Hazard's new deal and then work on Courtois #CFC https://t.co/vUcWWacj5n
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) October 5, 2017
We’ve been here before of course, late last season, but talks were eventually shelved with both Belgian superstars. They were supposed to resume over the summer, but then everyone got concerned with transfer market shenanigans instead, Hazard broke his ankle, Courtois went on vacation, and so on and so forth.
None of that changes that the fact that they are two of the most key players on the team, and that they have a little over 2.5 (Hazard) and 1.5 (Courtois) years left on their contracts. The ideal time to extend players is with two years left, so Courtois is already within that boundary but apparently that’s not a concern just yet. The goalkeeper it’s been said for a while, is looking for a bump up to De Gea-levels, which would almost double his current salary to around £200k per week. Worth it. Hazard meanwhile is already at that level and could be looking at £300k, as previously rumored as well.
The Hazard renewal talks were brought up last week in the context of showing his quality on the European stage, to which Eden duly responded with one of his best games ever against Atlético Madrid. He couldn’t quite repeat that against Manchester City, thought here were attenuating circumstances. Still, any money is money well spent on Hazard in my book, so let’s get both of these done pronto.