Antonio Conte

The sparkling renaissance at Stamford Bridge, one that has been magnificently fashioned by Antonio Conte, has seen the Italian's stock rise markedly among his managerial brethren. Now 25 Premier League games into his career as Blues boss, the London club have an eight-point advantage over second-place Manchester City at the summit of the top flight and are through to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

If Monday's rumours emanating from Italy are to be believed, Conte is about to sign a new contract that will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2020. The 47-year-old's original deal, worth £5 million a year with a £5m bonus should he win the Champions League, was agreed in April 2016 and is due to expire in 2019. The financial terms of the new contract are as yet unknown but with Pep Guardiola earning £15 million a year at Man City and Jose Mourinho making £13.8 million at Man United, Conte will be in line for a handsome pay rise.

Of course, a new improved deal makes sense and is justifiable. In a short space of time, Conte has not only proved his capabilities but also endeared himself to Chelsea supporters. Blues owner Roman Abramovich will not want to lose his prize asset to another club. Of Europe's elite clubs, it's possible that Barcelona could be in the market for a new manager in the short term; Conte would fit the bill perfectly at the Camp Nou.

A paranoia-inducing possibility such as this will no doubt see Abramovich preparing a pair of golden handcuffs to keep Conte at Stamford Bridge for the long term.

Conte has more than earned an improved deal at Chelsea. It should be a mere formality.

Diego Costa

The future of Diego Costa, currently earning £150,000 per week on a deal due to expire in 2019, has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks with the player's super agent Jorge Mendes stirring the pot during the January transfer window.

A spectacular £30m a year salary offer for Costa to move to Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjin came to nothing, as did a spat with Blues fitness coach Julio Tous that saw Conte "drop" the 28-year-old for the league game with Leicester City. It's all smiles again now, though, and after a fallow period of 413 minutes, Chelsea's leading scorer this season was back on target with a late goal to seal a 2-0 win at Wolves in Saturday's FA Cup tie at Molineux.

Costa's new Chelsea contract is reported to be worth £220,000 per week (plus bonuses) for the next five years, a deal that would make him the squad's highest-paid player. With Mendes driving a hard bargain, it will be interesting to see what transpires. There is no doubting the value of Costa's goals to Conte, especially with his team (barring a disaster of apocalyptic proportions) returning to Champions League action next season.

Dominic Solanke

Solanke's wage demands are large considering his lack of first-team action. Will he stay or will he go?

Football is a money-driven, results-based business. Both Conte and Costa are delivering the goods for Abramovich and while the sums of cash being talked about in respect of their contracts may be considered vulgarly excessive, that's the nature of the modern game. Unfortunately, a sad by-product of this fact is that opportunists will always see Chelsea as a cash machine, and this appears to be the case with Blues academy starlet Dominic Solanke.

The 19-year-old striker carved out a stellar reputation scoring freely for Chelsea's junior teams before spending last season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, where he netted seven goals in 25 appearances for the Eredivisie club. Despite only having 17 minutes of Chelsea first-team action to his name so far, for the past nine months Solanke's stepfather has been trying to negotiate a deal for him reported to be worth in the region of £50,000 a week.

Understandably, Chelsea have baulked at this figure: it's no real surprise given that Solanke's academy peers, Nathan Ake and Nathaniel Chalobah, who have impressed this season when given chances by Conte, are both on £5,000 per week. Fellow strikers Tammy Abraham and Isaiah Brown are suddenly looking more enticing prospects given their goal-getting exploits on loan in the Championship this season.

Perhaps Chelsea made a rod for their own back when agreeing a wage deal, worth £1.7m a year, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek when he was still just 17 years old. Now 21, Loftus-Cheek earns a basic £35,000 a week; considering he has yet to nail down a regular place in Conte's side, it's probably £30,000 a week too much.

There are plenty of high-profile clubs reportedly interested in signing Solanke, among them Liverpool and Celtic, but whether or not they would meet his exorbitant wage demands remains to be seen. Chelsea could profit by as much as £8 million should a tribunal determine a fee for the player: It would be a decent return that Conte and the club might consider better invested elsewhere.