Gossip: Speculation over Hazard’s future and Falcao is tipped to leave

A round-up of the latest transfer speculation involving Chelsea…

There is inevitably speculation about Eden Hazard’s future after he was left out of the Chelsea side.

Blues boss Jose Mourinho dropped Hazard to the bench for Saturday’s game against Aston Villa and declared afterwards that the Belgian needs to increase his work-rate if he is to get back into the starting line-up.

Real Madrid have duly been linked with a move for Hazard. Metro, picking up on speculation on a Spanish website, reports that Real president Florentino Perez is keen to sign him.

Meanwhile, Radamel Falcao could return to Monaco in January rather than wait for his season-long loan to end, according to The Sun.

The striker has been unable to establish himself as a first-team regular since joining Chelsea during the summer.

And Sevilla wide-man Yevhen Konoplyanka is the latest player to be linked with Chelsea as a result of Mourinho’s recent trip to watch Ukraine play Spain.

There has been speculation about who Mourinho was in Kiev to see, with Andriy Yarmolenko and Spain players Isco, Nolito and Thiago Alcantara linked with potential moves to Stamford Bridge in the last week.

Now the Daily Mail reports that Konoplyanka, 26, is of interest. It comes after Mircea Lucescu, the manager of Shakhtar Donestsk, said he had spoken to Mourinho at the match.

Lucescu has been quoted by the Ukrainian media as saying: “Mourinho is interested in Yevhen Konoplyanka. I was at Ukraine vs Spain with Mourinho and he is interested in some players.”