Antonio Conte already told Chelsea not to sell £200,000-a-week superstar"

According to Andy Townsend, incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will have spoken to the club’s owner Roman Abramovich about keeping Eden Hazard.

It was confirmed yesterday that Conte, the current Italy coach, will take charge at Stamford Bridge from next season, so discussion will surely have turned to which players the 46-year-old wants to retain and which member of the squad he will seek to sell.

During his interview, Townsend told BBC Sport: “Conte will have sat in front of Roman Abramovich and said ‘I’ll get more out of Hazard, I’ll get him back to his best’.

“If I was Conte I would be saying ‘don’t give him away to Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain, I’ll get him going again’.”

Hazard was sensational last season and was named the PFA Player of the Year as Chelsea cruised to the Premier League title. This season, however, the Belgian has been a shadow of his former self, a point perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that he is still searching for his first Premier League goal of the season.

The 25-year-old winger has still contributed in other aspects – he has created 56 chances in the Premier League this season – but his overall performance levels have been rather concerning.

Chelsea have little to play for in the remaining games this season, with interim manager Guus Hiddink using the opportunity to give game time to several of the club’s talented youngsters.

The Blues registered an impressive 4-0 victory away to struggling Aston Villa last weekend and will be hopeful of getting three more points when they travel to face Swansea City on Saturday in their next fixture.