'We'd love him to stay' - Azpilicueta

Eden Hazard is still focused on Chelsea, according to Blues defender Cesar Azpilicueta, who hopes the forward stays at Stamford Bridge. Hazard, long linked with a move to Real Madrid, only has one year left on his contract and has hinted at wanting to join the LaLiga giants. Speaking after Chelsea's last Premier League game of the season, Hazard confirmed he has decided his future and informed the club of his intentions "a couple of weeks ago".

Maurizio Sarri has indicated even winning the Europa League final against Arsenal later this month may not be enough to persuade Hazard to stay. Chelsea fans unfurled a banner urging Hazard to remain at Stamford Bridge during the game at Leicester City on Sunday. And Azpilicueta, who like Hazard has been at Chelsea since 2012, understands why supporters are so keen to see the Belgium international commit to the club.

"Of course they want him to stay," Azpilicueta told the club's official website of Hazard, who hit 16 Premier League goals and provided a league-high 15 assists in 2018-19. Eden has been an important part in the seven years he has been here, he is only focusing on getting good results and lifting the trophy in Baku, and after this his position with the club we will see. But everyone here, we love him and we would like him to stay with us."

12 May 2019

Chelsea wrapped up their domestic campaign with a 0-0 draw, which was enough to pip Tottenham to third place in the table as the Champions League finalists failed to win at home to Everton.

"Obviously in this season we have had ups and downs, we have arrived in the final of the EFL Cup and lost on penalties, we have had bad games with heavy losses and we have had very good games when we have played well and had good results," Azpilicueta added. "We are in the final of the Europa League, we finished third when we were a bit in trouble a few weeks ago, so that shows that the league is not easy and we showed character, and at the end we have finished third and play the Champions League next season.

"We started with fourth position in our pocket already but we wanted more. We knew we were facing a good team in very good form. Under their new manager [Brendan Rodgers] Leicester have improved a lot, they have young players and it was their last game at home. We were coming from 120 minutes in the [Europa League] semi-final as well so really it was important to finish well and we were unlucky not to win. We were not very effective up front and we could not take the lead, but we were happy to finish third and now we have the big game in Baku."