Jose Mourinho says Eden Hazard was ‘awful’ in training at Chelsea and believes he would be even better if he had a ‘super-professional attitude’.
Hazard worked alongside Mourinho for two years during the manager’s second stint at Stamford Bridge and played a vital role in the club’s Premier League title win in 2015.
The Belgian has since joined Real Madrid in a £130m deal but has struggled to make an impact for the La Liga giants.
And while Mourinho has praised Hazard for his talent, the Portuguese coach believes the forward’s lack of dedication off the field has held him back.
‘The truth is that amazing player that you see is an amazing player with awful training,’ Mourinho told talkSPORT.
‘You can 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, he’s totally focused on family, on kids, on parents, on a very quiet life.
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‘But he gets onto the pitch every morning and he doesn’t work much. When he goes onto the pitch, you don’t see the reflection of a week’s work, you just see the reflection of his talent.
‘So he is this amazing player, and you can imagine if he was a top professional.
‘When he went to Real Madrid I thought, ‘wow, now this guy is going to the biggest club in the world, now he’s going to feel this huge pressure to be always at the top, this guy is going to be a Golden Ball [winner], because he is amazing’.
‘But in terms of his fitness, his speed, his condition, he would be a much better player [if he trained harder].
‘What you see is the talent that God gave him, and he’s a fantastic player.’
