Mourinho on Hazard - 'Awful' in training, would be far better if he was a 'top professional'

Before leaving Chelsea, world of football labeled Eden Hazard as possibly the third best player in the world. Following Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, of course.

As if a curse hit him after he left Stamford Bridge - injuries, form on a downward spiral, lack of desire.

But if you listen to stories from the training grounds and experiences of his teammates, it is not much of a surprise he is in the current state. It is more surprising how did he last that long uninjured and fit in London, with such approach to life and sport.

Life at Real Madrid after Sergio Ramos

Hazard's former manager and Portuguese footballing mastermind Jose Mourinho spoke about Hazard's professionalism and how he is a victim of his own lack of it. As per new Roma head coach, the Real Madrid winger is an amazing player with awful training ethics.

Hazard started just two games for Real since January and faced criticism from Madrid fans over his failure to stay fit and has reportedly turned up overweight at the Bernabeu.

Last season only, the 30-year-old forward endured eight injuries and has missed more than 50 games for Real since his move from Chelsea in 2019. A move that cost the Royal club 122 million USD (13 billion KSH).

Morocco's adding more spice to the Champions League winning squad

Hazard and Mourinho spent more than two years together at Stamford bridge before the Portuguese was sacked in December 2015. Hazard then played the best football of his career and with Mourinho at the wheel, Chelsea cruised to the Premier League title.

Mourinho spoke with talkSPORT and insisted Hazard would have been an even better player if he showed more professionalism in between matchdays.

'The truth about Eden Hazard? The truth is what you see from him, he is an amazing player with awful training,' Mourinho said.

'You can only imagine what he could be with a super professional attitude in training.

'In the end, he is an amazing kid, he is an incredible family man, he looks like he doesn't belong to this generation of players, he's very quiet and is totally focused on family, on kids, on parents, on a very quiet life.

'But he gets onto the pitch every morning and… he doesn't work much. When he gets onto the pitch you don't see the reflection of a week of work, you just see a reflection of his talent.

'He is this amazing player and you can imagine if he was a top professional. When he went to Real Madrid I thought "wow, this guy is going to the biggest club in the world and is going to feel this huge pressure to be always at the top, this guy is going to win the Golden Ball, because he is amazing".

'But in terms of his fitness, his speed, his condition, he would be a much better player [if he trained properly]. What you see is just the talent that got Eden to where he is.

'He gets on the pitch every morning and he doesn't work much. You can imagine what he could be if he was a top professional.'

Regardless, the two had a great relationship - Hazard texted the Portuguese to apologize for the Blues underperforming and therefore sitting 16th in the table prior to his departure in 2016.

Ancelotti's new regime to prevent another injury-plagued season

Another former Blues and Hazard's team-mate, Nigerian John Obi-Mikel told The Athletic that Hazard 'did not like to train hard'.

At one point, the Belgium star even said he would like to work with Mourinho again and admitted he was 'out of shape' after returning from holidays in the summer prior to Chelsea sacking Mourinho.

'In 12 years I've only had one bad season - the last six months under Mourinho - and it was partly my fault,' Hazard told Belgian outlet HLN in 2018.

'After the title, we asked Mourinho for extra holidays. I came back totally out of shape. We didn't win, we got into a sort of routine - training, training without having fun. It was better for all parties that the collaboration came to an end.'