With the future of the Blues wide man now in some doubt following manager Jose Mourinho’s recent comments about the Belgium international’s commitment to the west London club, we take a look at five possible candidates to take over from the youngster at Stamford Bridge next season ….
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Ross Barkley (Everton)
The 20-year-old has enjoyed a real breakthrough campaign with the Toffees this season under new manager Roberto Martinez’s inspirational guidance, so much so that already the west Londoners have been heavily mentioned in the same sentence as the wonderkid.
However, the Blues will also be more than aware that in order to lure the newly capped England star south to the capital this summer, they will need to break the bank to persuade his employers to part company with their star man.
Paul Pogba (Juventus)
There are still huge doubts surrounding the future of the brilliant France international at the Old Lady of Italian Football, especially after the Serie A champions themselves recently admitted that were they to receive a big-money offer for the coveted 21-year-old when the summer transfer window reopens, then they would have to consider offloading the player.
And with talks now set to take place this weekend about the player’s contract with Juve, then the Blues could very well have a ready-made replacement for Hazard should the Belgium quit the Bridge at the end of the campaign.
Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid)
The word coming out of the Santiago Bernabeu is that the Argentina international is on his way out of the Spanish capital at the end of this season and if that were to be the case, then the west London club should move heaven and earth to try and land the twinkle-toed wide man.
Di Maria, who is contracted to Los Blancos until June 2018, came desperately close to leaving the La Liga giants during the previous summer’s transfer window, only for Madrid to instead decide to sell Mesut Ozil to Arsenal, but with relations between the player and new Real boss Carlo Ancelotti said to have soured of late, it looks like the winger’s says at the club are now numbered.
Alexis Sanchez (FC Barcelona)
Another hugely skilful La Liga wide man whose career in Spain now appears to be drawing to a close, with the Chile international almost certain to be leaving Camp Nou come the end of the campaign.
Alexis, 25, has registered an impressive 17 goals and 12 assists in total in just 31 league outings for the Catalan giants so far this campaign, although the Blues will need to compete with Serie A champions Juventus for the South American’s signature this summer.
Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
The Reds flyer has really taken his game on to another level this season, so much so that the 19-year-old now looks an absolute shoe-in for a place in Roy Hodgson’s 23-man England squad travelling to this summer’s Fifa World Cup finals in Brazil.
And were the worst-case scenario to play out at Stamford Bridge over the course of the next few months and Chelsea were to indeed part company with their star man, then the Blues should consider trying to land the England wide man to replace the Belgium winger.
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