Courtois: I’m ready to sign deal... and so is Hazard

he has now accepted the academy graduate will move on. ‘We are resigned and the club was resigned before I got here that we’re going to lose Ross and I can’t see that changing,’ said Allardyce. ‘I expect there will be some interest some time in this window. He’s back in training full-time. When he comes back, the touch won’t be quite as good as it used to be and the match fitness won’t be quite as good as it used to be.’ Chelsea’s other top transfer targets are proving difficult to land, and manager Antonio Conte wants cover for centre forward Alvaro Morata. Chelsea have made an enquiry to West Ham about Carroll and held preliminary talks with the striker’s representatives. The 28-year-old, who came off the bench for West Ham at Tottenham last night, cost £15million from Liverpool in 2013 and has scored 32 goals in 123 games. Despite his latest moves to strengthen the Chelsea squad, Conte claimed yesterday that he has always struggled to sign the players he wants. The former Juventus boss told Sky Sports Italia: ‘I do not aim high with my requests, especially as in my history I’ve rarely been given the players I asked for. ‘I always ended up at clubs who were running an austerity programme. I just try to do my work. If someone arrives, good; if they don’t, then that’s fine too. ‘I have to continue my work, either way. I give my opinion to the club, I try to tell them what roles we can improve. ‘If the club ask me for some names, I try to do this, but then it’s the club that decides the investment, which is the best player for the team.’ Meanwhile, Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois — who has 18 months left on his contract and has been linked with a move to Real Madrid — says he wants to stay at Stamford Bridge. And the Belgian claims his compatriot Eden Hazard, whose deal runs until 2020, is happy to stay too. ‘I’m happy at Chelsea and a deal is close,’ Courtois told the London

Evening Standard. ‘Do Eden and I encourage each other to sign? Yes. He will say, “If you sign, I will sign”, and I say the same to him. Losing Eden would be bad for us. Eden is irreplaceable. With the money he will raise, you could buy five players, but none of them will be like Eden. ‘It would be like Barcelona losing Lionel Messi or Real Madrid losing Cristiano Ronaldo.’