"Amazing player with awful training" - Jose Mourinho takes swipe at Real Madrid star
Former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at Eden Hazard, claiming the Belgian is 'awful' in training.
Mourinho was speaking with talkSPORT when he opened up about the Real Madrid star's footballing ability.
"An amazing player with awful training. 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," Mourinho said.
However, the new AS Roma boss was quick to praise Hazard too, saying the Real Madrid winger is an 'incredible guy' and perhaps doesn't seem like he belongs to the current generation of footballers.
"But he's an incredible guy. He's an incredible family man, and it seems like he doesn't belong to this generation of players. He's a quiet guy who's focused on his family, his children, his parents. He has a very quiet life.
"But when he gets onto the pitch in the morning he doesn't do much work. What you see when he plays isn't the reflection of a week's work, but of his natural talent," Mourinho added.
Also read: David James column - Top 5 favorites to win Euro 2020
I thought Hazard was going to win Ballon d'Or at Real Madrid: Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho, who managed Hazard for a little more than two seasons at Chelsea between 2013 and 2015, thought the Belgian would go on to win the Ballon d'Or at Real Madrid.
However, Hazard has had a couple of injury-ravaged seasons at Real Madrid since joining them in 2019. In 43 appearances for them, he has scored just five goals and provided eight assists.
"He's an incredible player and you can only imagine him if he was a top professional. When he went there I thought he was going to feel enormous pressure to always be at the top, and that he was going to win a Ballon d'Or, because he is incredible," Mourinho said.
Also Read: Paul Merson's column - 5 surprise packages of Euro 2020 so far