EDEN HAZARD has accepted he will be retained by Chelsea this summer and agreed to dedicate himself to the club for another year.
The Belgian has been a pivotal figure in the club’s drastic fall from Premier League champions to relegation candidates this season.
The former Lille man was the player former physio Eva Carneiro was attempting to treat before Jose Mourinho lambasted her in August, eventually leading to both medic and manager being sacked in an embarrassing off-field saga.
And the shocking lack of goals and assists, from a player once believed by those around Stamford Bridge to be in the same orbit as superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, left him a justified focus for criticism.
After scoring 14 in his two previous Premier League campaigns, the 25-year-old has failed to score a single goal this season and has let a series of minor injuries limit him to just 15 completed league matches.
Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were interested in whisking him away and offering him a less intense league to work to his undoubted magic in. But they have been put off by the £70million the Blues are demanding.
With four years left on a £200,000-a-week contract, Antonio Conte’s new club is in a strong position so it looks like one of their other stars will be shipped out.
Oscar has three years left on his £155,000-a-week deal and is likely to be offered to Juventus and PSG for a starting bid of £30m which, once recouped, will go toward rebuilding cautious-thinking Conte’s defence.
Current Blues boss Guus Hiddink believes some of his players have eased up on their club efforts this season, with the Euro 2016 fast approaching, and Hazard could well be in that group as his Belgium team will be expected to reach the latter stages at least.
But a recent meeting between incoming boss and under-performing player seems to have convinced both men that the Hazard has a productive future in west London once he has represented his country in France.
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