Thibaut Courtois has stressed that Chelsea must keep hold of Eden Hazard to compete with the best in the Premier League and Champions League next season.

The Belgian attacker has scored 13 goals in 33 games for the Blues, who look set to win the title and are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Hazard's form has seen him heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, with Real Madrid said to be interested, but his fellow countryman has urged Chelsea to put all their efforts into fighting off the La Liga giants this summer.

"Eden is one of the best players in the world," Courtois told the Evening Standard.

"Chelsea have ambitions to win the Champions League again and always look to play for the title. If you want to do that, you need the biggest players and he is obviously a big part of that.

"Eden is not affected by it. They are just rumours. He is just calm. He knows that he is important to Chelsea, like I do. We are both very happy to be here."

Hazard joined Chelsea in 2012 from French club Lille.