If you were hoping that Eden Hazard would sort out his contract situation sooner rather than later, you might have to put those celebratory bottles of champagne back on ice for a while.
According to the Times, the Chelsea captain-in-waiting isn’t ready to sign on the dotted line until Chelsea have assured him of a Champions League spot for next season, and that certainly will take most of the next nine months to do. Chelsea can either qualify by finishing in the top four or by winning the Europa League, but neither of those can happen before May by definition, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Hazard’s future rests on Chelsea qualifying for Champions Leaguehttps://t.co/qSXm9GsNbJ
— Gary Jacob (@garyjacob) August 21, 2018
Of course, the Times could be working off of old information — they bring up Hazard’s father’s quotes from January as supporting evidence, for example, and claim that no official contract offer has been tendered in the first place. But we do know that Sarri has been talking to Eden, and surely those conversation didn’t pass without someone mentioning something about a contract at least once. Hazard committing himself to Chelsea, just the other day, for this season but not beyond is also supporting evidence that’s being used.
The ironic part in all this is of course that Hazard himself will have great influence on whether Chelsea qualify for the Champions League or not.
So, what will it be, Eden?
Chelsea will at one point offer Eden Hazard a new deal and start contract talks, but they haven’t actually sat down as yet.
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) August 21, 2018
Chelsea tried to open talks at the end of last year, but Hazard made it clear that he wasn’t eager to sign a new deal. #cfc pic.twitter.com/sOXS726sKX