Chelsea looking at contract extensions for key players (except that one)

Chelsea, sensing sharks and blood in the water, is looking at contract extensions for key players. Well, except the one everyone wants most.

Chelsea is straddling the line between “precarious position” and “dawn of a new era”. On the one hand, the Blues failed to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years and have seen yet another managerial change and reset. On the other hand, things do feel different with the new manager and the club does seem to be heading into a new direction.

So when other big clubs start sniffing around key players, Chelsea is bound to get nervous. Logic would dictate that the Blues are a Champions League level club. But the history of the last three years would show otherwise and Chelsea may worry that some players will decide to cut and run.

That is perhaps why the Blues have been more aggressive as usual in contract extension talks. Pedro is the most notable to have already signed an extension with several others reported to be considering one (namely, Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante). But the one everyone wants to extend is still the golden goose.

The proposed extensions for Alonso and Kante are very important. Alonso is one of Chelsea’s best defenders and has been a surprise revaluation at left back since his arrival. Kante of course needs no plaudits because he has already earned them all.

Their contracts are important because they are such vital players for the Blues entering their primes. They can help make up a spine for Chelsea to build around for years to come. Chelsea last had that when Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Didier Drogba stomped around the Bridge. They have been chasing the same ever since.

But perhaps more importantly is that the possible extensions for Alonso and Kante can lead to further extensions. The two are being courted by Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain respectively. If both opt to pick Chelsea over those two, that sends a message to other players. Namely Eden Hazard.

Hazard is, of course, still interested in the idea of Real Madrid. Supposedly Real Madrid is not as interested, but that has not stopped Hazard from blinking their way and giving them the criteria to have him. But if Hazard starts to see other big Chelsea players commit, he may himself decide that he should as well.

Chelsea has not fully started contract talks with Hazard yet.  Perhaps they are giving him space. The last thing the club wants to do is seem desperate. But the various contract extensions when big clubs start to sniff are telling. Hazard will surely see this and see that Chelsea is serious about change. If Hazard starts to believe in the club again, he will surely extend.

It is a long, indirect game the Blues may be playing. But it might be the only one they can play. Hazard needs a club that matches his ambition. Real Madrid clearly does that for the Belgian but he is still undecided if Chelsea do or not. The Blues will need to keep making bigger and bigger moves to show Hazard they are just as much a part of the elite as Real Madrid. Then, Hazard will commit.