Real Madrid 'are increasingly concerned about Eden Hazard's fitness' after the Belgian star wasn't in good enough shape to play for his country.
Hazard didn't play a single minute for Belgium in their UEFA Nations League matches against Denmark and Iceland, with manager Roberto Martinez admitting he 'wasn't fit enough' to feature.
And reports in Spain suggest his club Real are also becoming frustrated about the 'overweight' star's fitness levels ahead of the new season.
Diario Sport say the club feel Hazard, who signed from Chelsea for £150million in the summer of 2019, should have not reported for international duty and stayed with Real to work on his fitness.
There are questions over his commitment to turning around his fortunes at the Bernabeu club following an underwhelming first season that was adversely affected by injury.
Worse still, this is the second year in succession that Hazard, 29, has been out of shape ahead of a new season.
He reportedly arrived for Real's 2019 pre-season tour in Montreal seven kilos overweight, much to the annoyance of manager Zinedine Zidane.
Now he is unlikely to be fit enough for the start of Real's LaLiga title defence at Real Sociedad next Sunday with Sport reporting that Hazard needs 'two or three weeks' to reach the same fitness levels of his team-mates.
It means that Vinicius Jr is likely to move ahead of the Belgian in Real's attacking options and Hazard will begin the season in a back-up role despite his hefty price tag.
The Spanish paper also says that Hazard's stay with Real is unlikely to last much longer unless he turns things around having shown only glimpses of the quality he showed at Chelsea.
Madrid were unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade Belgium not to take Hazard - and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois - on international duty.
But while their goalkeeper returned to the Spanish capital for pre-season last Friday before Belgium's Nations League campaign got underway, Hazard remained with his country but ended up taking no part in the action.
Hazard had reportedly considered not joining up with his Belgium team-mates but Martinez had convinced him that his country needed him in the dressing room and that it would give him the best possible preparation ahead of the new season.
After joining in a mega-money deal from Chelsea last summer, Hazard was restricted to just 22 matches in all competitions - netting only one goal and providing seven assists.
He had been ruled out for 24 games in total last season due to a series of injuries, mainly a hairline fracture in the foot throughout the winter.