Chelsea are prepared to make Eden Hazard among the highest paid players in the Premier League.

The Sunday Express says Hazard had been stalling on signing a new deal amid a flurry of speculation linking him to Real Madrid, but he is ready to turn his back on the Spanish giants.

Chelsea have been waiting for more than a year for the Belgian star to put pen to paper on a £300,000-a-week contract – but are now willing to go much higher after his impressive start to the new season.

They want to re-open talks before Christmas and are ready to go as high as £350,000-a-week if Hazard will commit himself for the next four or five years.

Hazard – who is out of contract in 18 months – currently earns £200,000-a-week and has fallen down the list of the Premier League's top earners.

But the new deal will put him ahead of Paul Pogba, on £290,000 a week at Manchester United and Arsenal's Mesut Ozil, who picks up £306,000 a week.

It will even eclipse the Premier League's best paid player Alexis Sanchez, whose basic wage at Old Trafford is £315,000 a week.