I Cannot Quit Chelsea In January – Hazard

Eden Hazard has told Canal Plus it is “impossible” for him to leave Chelsea in January, but again said he would be keeping his options open for the summer.

Chelsea are desperate to keep Hazard, who enters the final year of his contract at the end of the season.

Sources have said that the Blues are prepared to make him the highest-paid player in the club’s history — eclipsing the £290,000-a-week deal signed by N’Golo Kante last week — if he agrees to commit his future to them.

Hazard said in September that a move to Real Madrid was his “dream”, but added that he would also be open to discussing a new Chelsea contract.

Asked whether he could leave for the Bernabeu in January, Hazard said: “Impossible. I don’t see myself leaving in January, for the club, for the fans.

“For the moment, as I have already said, I’m focusing on Chelsea this year. I have a year on my contract after this year. If there is no contract extension, of course [he would be sold].”

Chelsea hope a successful season under Maurizio Sarri will convince Hazard to stay, but Tottenham ended the Blues’ unbeaten start with a 3-1 victory at Wembley on Saturday.

There is uncertainty about what Madrid intend to do in the summer, with many expecting Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to be ahead of Hazard on president Florentino Perez’s list.

PSG have been cited as potential suitors for Hazard in the past, but the Belgium international dismissed the possibility that he could return to France to join the Ligue 1 champions.

Asked whether he was tempted by PSG, Hazard said: “No, because I have always said that if I were to return to Ligue 1, it would be at Lille.

“Perhaps it wouldn’t be possible, so I think I won’t return to Ligue 1.”

Hazard looked frustrated as he was isolated by Spurs at Wembley, with Sarri attributing the defeat to the “mental problem” he said had led to Chelsea starting matches too slowly in recent weeks.