Maurizio Sarri warns Chelsea they must sort out Eden Hazard's future as soon as possible

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aurizio Sarri has told the Chelsea board that they must sort out Eden Hazard’s future as soon as possible.

Hazard this week revealed he is willing to wait until the end of the season before deciding whether or not to sign a new Chelsea contract worth well over £300,000 a week.

The Belgian is waiting to find out whether or not Real Madrid will make a big bid to sign him at the end of the season. He still has 18 months remaining on his deal, but head coach Sarri has insisted that now is the time for Chelsea and Hazard to make a decision.

On the subject of what he believes Hazard will do, Sarri said: “I don’t know, but I think that it’s time to decide.”

Asked whether or not he will personally talk to the 27 year-old about his future, Sarri added: “No, because I don’t have the power to do this. I am the coach, I am not the president, I am not in charge of the market. I want to speak to him only about the position on the pitch. We have to solve this problem if we want to programme the future.”

Hazard has also put pressure on Chelsea to sort out their striker crisis in January by admitting he prefers to play on the left, rather than in the middle where he has started the last four Premier League games.

But Sarri has suggested he will not be pressured into moving Hazard back to his favoured position, saying: “I cannot see the problem of Hazard in this role: he played four matches and scored three goals and made two assists.

“I am happy with him in this role. I don’t know if he prefers to play as a winger, but if he is able to play like in the last match in the centre, for me it’s not a problem to put him in the centre.

“I think in this moment we need to be solid and with Hazard in this position I think we can become more solid. It’s a good option also in the defensive phase. It depends on the moment, maybe in the future we will be able to play with a striker and Hazard together.”

Pressed on Hazard’s best position, Sarri added: “He is able to play as a winger, he is able to play in the centre of the pitch.

“I am really very happy with him in this position (in the centre), because he is very able to score, first of all, very able to open spaces for team-mates, very able to come to play with team-mates. At the moment, I am very happy with him in this position. In the future, he can play also as a winger of course.

“He is a great player, one of the most important in Chelsea history, so I was really confident he was able to score more.”

Sarri confirmed Alvaro Morata is available for Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace, but Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi are both out with hamstring injuries.

“We have two problems,” said Sarri. “The first and most serious is with Pedro, has an injury in his hamstring. He will have to rest for about 10 days. The other one is Hudson-Odoi, not a very serious problem, but I don’t know if he will be able to play the next match.”