Paper Round: Chelsea offer Eden Hazard mega deal to fend off Real Madrid interest

Wednesday’s back pages report that Chelsea forward Eden Hazard is to be offered a massive £300,000 per week – making him the highest paid player in the league – to stay on at Stamford Bridge next season.

The report comes amid speculation that Real Madrid will seek to secure the 26-year-old’s signature, though apparently the club are confident they can keep hold of Hazard, whose current contract takes him up to 2020.

Paper Round’s view: What a bizarre couple of seasons it’s been in the Premier League. After something of an annus horribilis last year, Hazard has found magnificent form recently and Chelsea will no doubt do everything they can to keep him. The lure of Real Madrid must be a strong one but with a pretty solid attacking force already, including the likes of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s hard to see where Hazard would fit. And if Conte’s first season is anything to go by, one might be tempted to wait and see what more he can achieve at the club.

[Read the full story here]

***

Alexis Sanchez makes the back pages once more on Wednesday as it is reported that Arsenal have set their price for the Chile international. In what must now be one of the longest-running contract sagas, the Gunners star has just a year left on his deal and attempts to negotiate an extension were said to have hit a brick wall last week when they were temporarily put on hold.

The Mirror reports on Wednesday that Arsenal will therefore demand £50 million for him if forced to sell.

Though Arsenal are apparently insisting Sanchez must not join another English club, those pesky west Londoners Chelsea are said to have other ideas, with a swoop for the 28-year-old planned. Reports suggest, however, that whoever takes on Sanchez will have a hefty bill to pay to secure his services. The Mirror suggests Sanchez’s representatives are asking for his salary to be more than doubled from £130,000 to £300,000 per week.

Paper Round’s view: £50 million for Sanchez, and yet Paul Pogba remains the world’s record signing. The mind boggles. Of course Arsenal may well set a high figure for Sanchez, but Chelsea can well afford it – though they may end up with quite the salary bill if the Hazard story is to be believed - and Sanchez would make a great addition to their squad, not least if Diego Costa does walk at the end of the season.

It looks increasingly likely that Sanchez will move on during the summer, regardless of what happens with Arsene Wenger. Forgetting any arbitrary figure set by Arsenal, let’s hope they don’t find out the hard way that Sanchez is priceless.

[Read the full story here]

***

An injury picked up by Liverpool’s Adam Lallana during England’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania on Sunday dominates Wednesday’s back pages, though the Mirror goes one further to report Jurgen Klopp’s ire at the inconsistent treatment of players. Lallana played the full 90 minutes on Sunday despite, says the newspaper, potentially having picked up the injury early on, with the midfielder apparently clutching his thigh in the tunnel during half time. Elsewhere in the squad, Klopp is reported to feel greater care was taken, for example with Phil Jones and Chris Smalling both returning to Old Trafford after picking up injuries.

Paper Round’s view: The tensions between club and country are well-documented for exactly these reasons. For clubs paying such vast sums of cash to their players to train and keep fit, it must be extremely frustrating to see players get injured while on international duty, and it won’t come much more frustrating than this for Klopp, not least because of the timing and Liverpool’s current position battling for a top-four finish. That the injury could have been worsened by playing on into the second half (though the picture is hardly conclusive, let’s face it) while other players appear to have been treated with kid gloves will only make Klopp more annoyed.

[Read the full story here]