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Eden Hazard contract: Jose Mourinho confirms Chelsea are in talks with Hazard over a long-term mega-contract

Reports suggest that Hazard could become the club's highest paid player on £200,000-a-week

Matt McGeehan
Tuesday 16 September 2014 16:16 BST
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Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard (Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho expects Eden Hazard to commit his long-term future to Chelsea after revealing the Belgium playmaker is discussing a contract extension.

The 23-year-old signed for a reported £32million from Lille in 2012 and has become an increasingly influential figure in his two years at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard has three years to run on his current deal, but Mourinho believes Chelsea will tie him down in a bid to hold off continued interest from Paris St Germain.

"We have big hopes that he will go from a top player to reach higher levels," said Mourinho, speaking on the eve of the Champions League Group G opener with Schalke.

"He's a player we want to keep. It's true Chelsea is trying to have an agreement for a new contract.

"It will be a question of time. It will end with a new contract.

"He wants to commit to us and we want to commit to him for the future."

Didier Drogba has shrugged off an ankle injury to be in contention after taking part in training on Tuesday.

The striker was the only injury concern after missing Saturday's Premier League win over Swansea.

Eden Hazard in action for Chelsea (Getty Images)

The final act of Drogba's first spell was scoring the decisive penalty in the 2012 European Cup final win.

Mourinho won the 2004 Champions League with Porto and the 2010 tournament with Inter Milan and is bidding to be the first manager to lift the trophy with three different clubs.

He said: "Do I want to try to win it again? Of course.

"What drives me is to try to win. I work for my club, for my players and for the club supporters. I don't work for myself.

"If I win it once more, to win with three clubs is unique. But even if I don't do it, how many top managers in the world have only one or even not a single one?

Didier Drogba holds aloft the European Cup after Chelsea’s triumph in 2012 (AFP/Getty)

"The greatest in our country (Sir Alex Ferguson), he won it twice.

"If at the end of my career I've achieved that situation, then good, but it's far from being an obsession and it's not something that I think about a lot.

"I have the ambition to win it again, but in this moment I only think about don't play Europa League.

"We have a championship of six matches and three opponents (in Group G) and we have to do everything to qualify."

Chelsea, who also face Sporting Lisbon and Maribor, reached the semi-finals last term, losing to eventual runners-up Atletico Madrid, and finished third in the Premier League.

After beginning the domestic season with four wins from four, hopes are high and Mourinho thinks he has a stronger squad this term.

He said: "It's not easy to improve what we did last season. In spite of that I think we are a better team."

The team has had the unfamiliar presence of Petr Cech on the substitutes' bench after a decade in the first team, with Thibaut Courtois displacing him as first-choice goalkeeper.

Mourinho declined to reveal who would start in goal, but insisted he has not designated competitions for his goalkeepers.

"Don't be surprised if he (Cech) plays a Champions League game or a Premier League game, or if Courtois plays a Capital One Cup game," Mourinho said.

"What I don't do is this competition is for me and this competition is for you. I must make choices. Petr is more than ready to play every game."

PA

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