9 players playing for their future at Chelsea

MANY Chelsea fans can’t wait for this disastrous season to end but many of the players still have much to play for – in some notable cases, nothing less than their futures.

Here we look at those who should not yet be “on the beach” and their prospects of staying at Stamford Bridge for another year.

1/9 John Terry age: 35 position: centreback Three months after revealing he is yet to be offered a new contract, Mr Chelsea doesn’t seem any closer to getting that new deal that he and supporters of the club so desire. Still the best defender at the club and still the best centreback in England, as Roy Hodgson’s comments proved. Seven hundred games in, Terry deserves another year but seems unlikely to get it. 2/9 Eden Hazard (caricature) age: 25 position: winger An injury didn’t help but the reality is that the Belgian, last season’s Premier League player of the year, has coasted his way through a miserable campaign. His confidence his shot, he barely even tries and he has only just scored his first goal in the Premier League this season. Has been eyeing a move to Real Madrid or PSG for a long time and it might be time for the Blues to part ways. 3/9 Diego Costa age: 27 position: striker Is the striker worth all the drama? When he’s at his ram- pant best then definitely, but in the two years he’s been at Stamford Bridge that has been for just the first three months of the first season and the past couple of months of this. In between there have been stamps, elbows, biting and posturing. Doesn’t seem to want to be at the club, with a return to Atletico Madrid perhaps on the horizon, although it’d be hard to find a replacement of similar quality. 4/9 Thibaut Courtois (right) age: 23 position: goalkeeper The goalkeeper’s only advantage over Petr Cech is youth, he’s not as good as Chelsea’s No 1 was in the past or even how good he is now. He’s made a number of high profile errors and, like Hazard, has had his head turned by more glamorous clubs in Europe. Asmir Begovic proved at the start of the season that he is more than capable of performing at the top level. He would fetch a massive fee - it’s definitely a risk but Chelsea could cash in now for a player who is not fully focused. 5/9 Oscar age: 24 position: attacking midfield- er

The Braziian is fast approaching 200 appearances for the Blues but he’s never managed to c onsistently become the kind of Frank Lampard replacement he was supposed to. Has only three goals in the Premier League so far this season - his lowest total in four years since joining the club - and a further two assists. Wildly inconsistent, Oscar is not usually a first-choice when the rest of the squad is fully fit. He works reasonably hard, the major reason Jose Mourinho picked him over Juan Mata, but doesn’t have the attacking instincts to become a truly top player. 6/9 Nemanja Matic ( far right) age: 27 position: holding midfielder Where has it all gone wrong for Matic? It appears to be a complete mystery from the outside looking in. When he joined Chelsea in January 2014, he set the tone for a late season surge and then formed a dominant partnership alongside Cesc Fabgregas last season on the way to the title. This term he can’t even beat John Obi Mikel to a place in the starting line-up, and when he does play he looks lost, off the pace and not interested. Does he want to leave or is his loss of form terminal? 7/9 Gary Cahill age: 30 position: centreback Cahill, and Roy Hodgson, are extremely fortunate that both John Terry and Kurt Zouma went down with serious injuries in recent weeks. Before that, Cahill was not anywhere close to breaking into Chelsea’s team. The sad reality is that a man who captained England last month is the fourth best in his position at a club currently 10th in the Premier League. Cahill is always pleasing on the eye but often over-plays and has been found out continually against the best opposition. 8/9 John Obi Mikel age: 28 position: holding midfield Has proved himself to be a very useful player for Guus Hiddink in two spells, but the sad reality is that the Nigerian is not good enough to start for a team that has title aspirations. A very useful member of the squad to keep around but Mikel himself has already said he wants to play more next season. If Chelsea want to get back to the top, Mikel can’t be a regular feature. 9/9 Loic Remy age: 29 position: striker A mystery that the Frenchman remained at Chelsea beyond the January deadline. He clearly doesn’t have a future at Stamford Bridge, with Guus Hiddink preferring to play 20-year-old winger Bertrand Traore as a striker when Diego Costa was unavailable. – The Independent