Chelsea to offer Eden Hazard new contract; will not use him as bargaining chip with Real Madrid — report

Following yesterday's report in the Guardian from Sid Lowe, here comes just about the most trusted name in Chelsea news, Matt Law with another report to reinforce the club's stance on this whole Eden Hazard and Real Madrid issue.

That is to say, there is no issue, there is no situation, there is no concern.  Eden Hazard is ours, and he wants to stay, and the club are ready to offer him a new contract extension, even though he still has over three years left on his current deal (the ideal time for contract extensions is just ahead of the two-year expiration mark).

Chelsea to resist bids for Hazard and are prepared to hand him a new contract #cfc https://t.co/Xy0toXuMAX

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) March 24, 2017

Law's report claims basically the same thing about Courtois as well (sorry, not sorry, Real Madrid), and also adds that while Chelsea are interested in Alvaro Morata (and Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley and Tiemoue Bakayoko and Virgil van Dijk), we will not entertain any deal that would involve either Hazard or Courtois going the other way in a swap of sorts.

Good.

In other squad news, Law talks about the uncertain futures facing Diego Costa (the China angle) and Willian, too, who has fallen to second-choice behind Pedro and could fall even further behind should Chelsea sign any new attacking reinforcements.

So, it's mostly stuff we've already known or heard, but Law's word generally is a source direct from the club, so it's good to know that Chelsea intend to not only tie down our most important players to ward off interest, but pursue new and impactful targets in the summer.