Eden Hazard has revealed for the first time he is prepared to wait until the end of the season before he makes a decision on his Chelsea future.
Hazard reached a century of goals for the club when scoring twice in a 2-1 win at Watford on Boxing Day, and gave fans hope when he spoke of going down in history with legends such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
He has only 18 months left on his contract, however, and is aware of long-standing interest from Real Madrid.
‘I will see at the end of the season,’ said Hazard, when asked about his future. ‘I am just focused on the pitch.’
Chelsea must convince him to stay and it will boil down to more than the size of his new contract.
Hazard wants to be back in the Champions League and will look for signs of ambition from his club, at a time when owner Roman Abramovich has withdrawn plans for a new stadium after being refused a visa to work in the UK.
The January transfer market could prove crucial, with Chelsea trying to strike a deal to sign Gonzalo Higuain, a signing which will have clear implications for Hazard.
The Belgian does not mind playing centre forward, a position where he has been deployed in the last four Premier League games, but he prefers to play wide.
‘My position is winger,’ said Hazard after the win at Vicarage Road. ‘I feel better as a winger, but I can play well as a striker, like against Watford and Brighton.
‘So the manager chooses where to put me on the pitch and then I try to do my best.’
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, who converted Dries Mertens from a winger to a striker at Napoli, has settled on Hazard as his ‘false nine’.
‘Dries is more of a striker than me,’ said Hazard. ‘I am more a playmaker. I like to touch the ball. Dries just wants to stay in the box. That’s why he scores a lot of goals.
‘We are different but I know Sarri likes to change some positions.’
Higuain, who is on loan at AC Milan from Juventus, worked successfully with Sarri at Napoli.
At 31, he does not represent any resale value but if Chelsea can sign the Argentine it might prove they are trying to satisfy not only the manager but also the star player who will be released to operate again in his preferred role.
Hazard added: ‘I score more goals, but I don’t feel I play better.’
Abbawaziri
238
Hazard should cool his brain and think twice about it because we all know and see that Chelsea is the future, with keeping an identical philosophy of football to chelsea football club will just make d club better and i just hope Abramovich sticks to that because we all see it with the likes of barcalona, bayern munich and Real Madrid. The main reason why these top teams continue to progress is because they know what they want and they have an identical type of football which no English team has but i just hope the likes of chelsea and man city should be able to build one.
EminenceBASIT
207
This hazard will just kill fans with tricky behaviours..Recently he want to be legend like but now not commiting his future to Chelsea..am fed up..who's this hazard self?
Canacpty
143
hazard is a threat to all rivals fans out there an that's why most wants him to leave Chelsea. But yull know Chelsea can destroy any team team that's why we are a threat to yull
RealMd13
126
All Football: Hazard refuses to commit to Blues future & will decide at the end of the season Me: yesterday Eden Hazard said he wanted to score more goals and become a Legend but he never said for which Club and as for now we can all see Eden Hazard doesnt want to stay at Chelsea he has been talking about Real Madrid and asking his teammate Kovacic about Madrid and all this shows how bad hazard wants to be a madridsta so he could be playing for Chelsea now but his mind, soul and heart ♥️ is at the Santiago Bernabeu and for a player like Eden Hazard Real Madrid will come guns blazing because we need something new at Real Madrid and I’m glad Hazard is a winger who could also play as a No.9 and with his pace, dribbling skills and Lethal Goal scoring ability we could use him to Replace Benzema while we search for a perfect No.9 😂😂 Welcome to Real Madrid Hazard Eden Hazard: Vaaa! 1,2 y maaadrid 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
yapacikouz
62
If Hazard wants to leave I think the club should let him go. Because if they convince him to stay, he will play for us but he will not play with his whole heart for his heart will be at Real Madrid. Besides a couple of seasons back, Hazard was the reason we failed to qualify to the quarter finals because all the ball passes that were made to him as a ball carrier in the two legs with PSG he brought all back and never moved forward with any. This contributed greatly to our phased out from the Champions League. Furthermore, players will always come and go. So is it with many great players and teams.
Davichi
56
Just yesterday the media claimed that Hazard has committed his future to Chelsea because he said he wanted to score more goals and become a Chelsea legend... many Chelsea fans held on to that comment. I didn't want to comment so it doesn't look as though I am picking on Chelsea; the fact that one says he wants to score more goals and become a legend doesn't imply that he wants to stay for much longer. It's just an open statement, but the media was so quick to draw a conclusion. The fact is that Hazard has already made his mind clear about his future... he already said it several times that he'd make a decision at the end of the season so let's allow this issue rest till he decides.