In our look at the latest Chelsea-related news stories from the media, Chelsea are reported to have opened talks on new contracts for a couple of our young stars, former United States midfielder Kyle Martino believes Christian Pulisic needs more time to adjust to playing in the Premier League and Rio Ferdinand says Eden Hazard picked a bad time to leave Chelsea and join Real Madrid.
These stories are samples pulled from external media sources. They do not represent the views or position of Chelsea Football Club.
Chelsea in contract talks with Abraham and Tomori
The Guardian reports Chelsea are in discussions with Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori on new long-term deals.
The pair have started the season well under new head coach Frank Lampard and could follow fellow Academy products Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in committing their future to the Blues by signing new five-year deals.
‘Abraham is set to more than double his £50,000-a-week wages after scoring seven goals in his past four games,’ said the Guardian of the young forward, who has three years left on the deal he signed before joining Swansea on loan in 2017.
‘Tomori, whose deal runs out in 2021, is also in line for a new contract after breaking into the first team this season,’ it added.
‘The 21-year-old centre-back has started Chelsea’s past three games and scored his first goal for the club in the 5-2 victory at Wolves last Saturday.’
Ex-US player feels Pulisic just needs time
Former United States international midfielder Kyle Martino has told Sky Sports that Christian Pulisic has the qualities to become a star at Chelsea but needs time to adjust to playing in the Premier League.
While Martino believes Pulisic will shine at Stamford Bridge, he said fans should manage their expectations about the young player who turned 21 on Wednesday.
‘If success is him replacing Eden Hazard then he is not going to succeed because maybe only a handful of players in the world can actually replace Eden Hazard,’ said Martino.
‘But he will bring similar qualities. If you watched him for Dortmund, he is more often than not coming from the left with a bit of freedom and that brings a tremendous amount of threat in behind as we saw in pre-season. He is an excellent finisher and he is good with his dribbling at creating space for himself and others. He is cerebral so he reads the game well.
‘The physicality of the Premier League will be a learning curve - having to be a bit quicker in getting the ball out from under his feet. He will need to be intelligent in terms of when he takes players on. But I have played with Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey and all the best before. He has got the qualities to be an incredible asset to Chelsea in between the lines.’
Martino, who is a pundit for NBC, also spoke about the interest which has been generated by the youngster in the United States.
‘Every nation has an incredible interest in how their compatriots are doing,’ he added.
‘This move has more implications and more at stake than most. There is a genuine interest here that measures higher on the excitement scale than any American playing abroad ever before. For Christian, I would imagine that has got to wear on him.’
Ferdinand says Hazard moved at the wrong time
According to the Daily Mail, Rio Ferdinand believes Eden Hazard picked the wrong time to leave Chelsea to join Real Madrid.
Appearing on BT Sport’s coverage of the Champions League, Ferdinand lamented the timing of Hazard’s switch to the Spanish club after watching their 3-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening.
'I'm fearful for him that he's gone there at the wrong time,’ said the former England defender.
'This is a team that's ageing, they're not on their way up, they've not got much spark about them at the moment. That is going to affect him and reflect badly on him in the long term.'
Also appearing on the show was Peter Crouch, who felt Hazard had to do more to establish his place at his new club.
'Hazard at Chelsea was one of the top five players in the world but watching him tonight he didn't look it,’ said the former striker.
‘At Chelsea he was the main man and everyone was giving him the ball from everywhere. He won't get that at Madrid until he earns it.’