Maurizio Sarri wants to keep Eden Hazard and is looking forward to working with him at Chelsea, cooling speculation linking the Belgium international with a move away from Stamford Bridge. Hazard has been the subject of media reports suggesting Real Madrid are interested in taking him to LaLiga before the start of the 2018-19 season as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, but Sarri indicated the 27-year-old is very much in his plans.
He also compared Hazard with Napoli attacker Dries Mertens, who became one of the Partenopei’s most prolific goal-scorers under Sarri’s guidance during the last three years. “Hazard is a very high level player and I think one of the top two or three European players,” Sarri told reporters.