Chelsea Open Contract Talks With Emerson After Defender's Impressive Start to the Season
By Tom Gott
Chelsea have begun negotiations with left-back Emerson over a new contract after the Italian's impressive start to the Premier League season.
Since Frank Lampard took over as manager, Emerson has been one of the team's standout performers and he now looks to have permanently moved ahead of Marcos Alonso in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have focused on tying down the futures of some of their most important players, with the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount both penning new deals, and The Express state that Emerson could be next in line.
Juventus are thought to be keen on a January deal for the 25-year-old after they failed with an approach during the summer, but Chelsea are simply not interested and they instead want to offer Emerson an improved contract.
He has been fantastic under Lampard, just as he was under former manager Maurizio Sarri towards the end of last season.
When he made his €20m move to Stamford Bridge in January 2018, Emerson was still recovering from injury, so Alonso retained his place in the lineup. However, he was finally handed his chance last season, and he has never looked back.
Since joining the club, Emerson has made 39 appearances for Chelsea, scoring one goal and creating a further four for his teammates.
He is not the only star in line for a new deal, with winger Callum Hudson-Odoi said to be closing in on a new deal worth a huge £180,000 per week.
Chelsea also plan to offer fresh terms to Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Reece James - all of whom stand to feature heavily in Lampard's plans going forward. The Blues want to reward their players for their development, and they hope that Emerson is the first of many to pen a new deal.