Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has shone a light on his time at Stamford Bridge and given a rare insight into the training habits of ex-Blues star Eden Hazard.
Mikel and Hazard shared five trophy-laden years together at Stamford Bridge working under Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Guus Hiddink, and Antonio Conte with both leaving the club in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
However, Mikel has revealed that despite being a match-winner on the pitch, his Belgian team-mate was the 'laziest footballer he has seen in his life' but admitted he got away with it due to his standout performances on matchday.
'Everybody wants to be in the starting 11 come the weekend and there is no place for you to be like 'I don't want to train today'. The only player I saw do that and get away with it was Eden Hazard,' Mikel told Dubai Eye.
'He never trained. The worst. The laziest footballer I have ever seen in my life. But then come the weekend he produces and was man of the match. He comes in then and was like 'come on guys you see'.
Hazard starred during seven years at the Premier League giants, lifting two Premier League titles, two Europa Leagues, an FA Cup, and a League cup, before departing for Real Madrid in 2019.
However, his time in the Spanish capital has been testing to say the least, with Hazard frequently injured, struggling to find form, and being criticised for putting on weight.
Hazard was even questioned on his weight fluctuation at the Qatar World Cup with Belgium, but has been defended by Mikel for trimming down.
But the now retired Nigerian did explain how Hazard 'likes his food' and would often sit down to eat a rice pudding the night before a match as he was allowed to 'do whatever he wants' during his time at Chelsea.
'I actually think when you look at him now he has lost a lot of weight,' said Mikel.
'But when he was at Chelsea the night before a game after dinner, he sits there for like 20 minutes, half an hour, eating rice pudding. He likes his food.
'Then he goes to bed, wakes up on a Saturday morning and is there, he produces. We just let him do whatever he wants,' he added.
Hazard's Real Madrid injury nightmare was deal another devastating blow in a recent training session that saw him pick up a knee injury that has ruled him out of upcoming games.
The latest set-back is Hazard's 18th injury since moving to Madrid where he has completed 90 minutes on just six occasions since the 19/20 season and missing 76 games for the Spanish giants in the process.
Nikilong
763
Some thinks being Ronaldo and Messi is easy because of their god given talents but they managed their body fitness to stay on top and won all that awards
Justihno
652
Talent without Hardwork won't take you Far. As Talented as Messi and Ronaldo, they don't joke with Training. Training that Hazard did not do when his Bones are Young, he wants to do them now that his Bones are becoming Old. My People have an Adage that says, Old Person cannot learn how to Ride Bicycle. If Kaka was able to win a Balloon d'Or, HAZARD also should have won One but he doesn't Train to Exceed his Limits.
Kohadlmntz
548
Obi maybe that is why he think he can still do it at real Madrid,they are not like Chelsea you better work hard Eden
Davichi
414
This is the reason why Hazard has suffered a huge deep in form... he failed to realize that this generation of football is not all about talent like it used to be... it's about talent and hard-work. Now he is finding it very difficult to adjust.
Fobeimrtu
370
Since he was given all these privileges at Chelsea why did he left Chelsea, knowing fully well real Madrid can't allow such in their club, that is the reason behind his injuries mostly in training ground.
Lahmmed•-•
296
It hurt a lot seeing Hazard like this 😢… I was expecting a Ballon d'Or amongst other honors by now. It’s painful 😣