Eden Hazard to delay talks with Chelsea

London, Aug 8: Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard is reportedly expected to delay resuming contract talks with the club as Thibaut Courtois refused to turn up to training for the second day in a row.

While Chelsea are frantically looking for a replacement for Courtois, who wants to join Real Madrid, they are determined to keep Hazard and hope to convince him to sign a new and fresh deal to stay at Stamford Bridge.

European champions Real Madrid have also expressed an interest in Hazard and the attacking midfielder admitted last month that he would like to move to the Spanish capital club.

But unlike his international and club team-mate Courtois, Hazard has accepted Chelsea’s stance and reported to training yesterday.

The 27-year-old was one of the best players at this summer’s World Cup and Chelsea are desperate to secure his long-term future.

Hazard has two years left on his deal worth £200,000 a week, which is why the hierarchy have been able to take a much stronger stance than over Courtois, who has less than 12 months left to run.

Chelsea have held talks on a few occasions in the past year over extending Hazard’s terms and increasing his pay to £300,000 a week without anything being agreed.

They have already offered star midfielder N’Golo Kante £290,000 a week to convince the France international to stay for five more years and he is expected to sign the deal.

Chelsea want to hold more negotiations with Hazard as soon as possible but reports say that he is in no rush to commit his future and intends to wait to see how things develop.

The Blues have only made one significant summer signing this summer in Jorginho but are expected to make a few big signings before the transfer window ends on Thursday.

Reports claim they are keen on Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Arrizabalaga, who rejected a move to Real in January. The Blues are also strongly linked with Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic.