Hazard admits he WAS five kilos overweight last summer but he lost them all

Eden Hazard has admitted that his start to life at new club Real Madrid did not go smoothly after turning up to pre-season training five kilograms overweight.

The Belgian joined the Spanish giants from Chelsea this summer in a £150million deal and was expected to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, questions were quickly raised over Hazard's conditioning and physique after pictures of the attacker looking overweight emerged during pre-season training.

The former Chelsea talisman's form in the opening few games of La Liga further compounded speculation over the star's lack of fitness, having gone five games without scoring or providing an assist for team-mates.

Hazard has now revealed that he was carrying extra weight upon arriving at his new club, which stopped him from hitting the ground running.

'It's true,' he told L'Equipe. 'I'm not going to hide it, but when I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation.

'I had put on five kilos, I'm the type to put on quickly and lose so quickly if I'm careful.'

Despite the disappointment in arriving at his new club overweight, Hazard said he lost the excess weight quickly.

'When I was 18, in Lille, I was 72 or 73 kg. Muscle mass was 75 kg, on a bad day, 77 kg. I was 80 kg this summer, I lost it in 10 days.'

Hazard has admitted his initial performances in the opening months of his tenure at the Bernabeu were not good enough. The Belgian international broke his goalscoring drought in a 4-2 win over Granada in early October, and has provided four assists so far this season.

'The first two months, in what I was proposing, it was not enough,' he said.

'I thought, I can do better, I've felt better for a month now. I dribble, I accelerate and I try to make others play well.

'I do not do everything right but I try The first two months, I said to myself 'you're new, be simple'. Too many passes, people waited for me to dribble.'