Fresh Contract Underlines Eden Hazard's Importance to New-Look Chelsea

Chelsea are set to underline the importance of Eden Hazard to their new-look squad and will shortly ink the playmaker to a new, long-term contract. 

This is according to Neil Ashton of The Daily Mail, who claims the pact will be worth £200,000 per week and make the 23-year-old one of the club's best-paid players.

Hazard, whom the Blues acquired from Lille for £32 million in 2012, scored 17 goals in an impressive 2013-14 campaign but failed to impress at the World Cup in Brazil.

The Belgium international then carried his sub-par form into the current season, although a standout performance against Swansea last weekend seemed to signal a return to his high-energy, quick-dribbling best. 

No player on Saturday touched the ball as often as Hazard, who also passed with remarkably high efficiency while torturing his opponents with instinctive, well-timed runs that brought the buildup play from the middle of the pitch into the attacking third.

No doubt Chelsea are banking on a future of similar displays, which is why they're about to lock down the No. 10 until 2019. His current contract would have expired two years sooner.

Since acquiring the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Loic Remy and Filipe Luis during an active summer transfer period, the club have moved quickly to secure some of their most valuable assets and already this month have extended fresh contracts to Cesar Azpilicueta and Thibaut Courtois. 

Hazard will be the latest player to tie himself to Stamford Bridge for the next half decade, and he believes his new team-mates will only help him become a better setup man. 

"Last season I scored a lot of goals and maybe this season I can make a lot more passes forward because Costa is one of the best and he can score," he told Simon Johnson of The London Evening Standard ahead of the Swansea match. 

"I can now concentrate on assists. I'm ready to be better than last season. When I'm on the pitch I try to give my best." 

His commitment to Chelsea will also serve to fend off interest from the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, who were thought to be readying a bid of £50 million for the attacker in the spring, according to The Mirror. 

Incidentally, the rumour proved to be a catalyst for the ongoing negotiations, and both player and club began positioning themselves for contract talks as far back as June, as per Tony Banks of The Express. 

Now, with the paperwork about to be signed, Hazard can get on with the business of forging what promises to be a fruitful relationship with Fabregas and Costa, and Chelsea can proceed to build around one of the most exciting talents in English football.

Follow @jerradpeters