Mikel John Obi Says 'Incredible Talent' Eden Hazard 'Didn't Like to Train Hard'

Former Chelsea player Mikel John Obi has revealed Eden Hazard did not always put in much effort when it came to training.

Mikel played with Hazard at Stamford Bridge between 2012 and 2017 before the former moved to Tianjin Teda. The latter is now at Real Madrid following his transfer in the summer.

The Trabzonspor midfielder told beIN Sports in Turkey (h/t Goal's Alex Shaw):

"Hazard has an incredible talent, Maybe not as good as [Lionel] Messi, but he can do whatever he wants with the ball at his feet.

"He didn't like to train hard. While we were working he was waiting for us to finish training just standing there. But on Sundays he was always man of the match, it was unbelievable."

Hazard's apparent lack of work rate in training did not hinder him winning two Premier League titles, two UEFA Europa Leagues, the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup during his time at Chelsea.

It didn't stop Real spending an initial fee of €100 million (£89 million) on him in the summer, either.

According to Spanish journalist Diego Torres Romano (h/t football writer and broadcaster Juan G. Arango), the Belgian was seven kilograms overweight when he reported for pre-season training in Madrid, and he had lost less than half that by the end of July.

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger suggested his weight had caused him to endure a slow start at Real:

A hamstring injury saw Hazard miss Los Blancos' first three matches of the campaign. He has since played 11 times, offering four assists and one goal.

He's starting to find his feet, though, and put in perhaps his best performance in a Real shirt in their 4-0 win over Eibar last time out.

Hazard was back to his effervescent best, with Eibar unable to contain him while he tormented defenders—which resulted in him winning a penalty—linked up well with Karim Benzema and pressed high up the pitch.

Managing Madrid's Lucas Navarrete and Kiyan Sobhani hailed his showing:

The winger has impressed with Belgium during the international break, too, bagging a brace and an assist in a 4-1 win over Russia on Saturday.

It's taken time for Hazard to settle in Madrid, not helped by his lack of conditioning in pre-season, which was disrupted by his injury.

He seems to be getting back to the level Real need him to be at, though. Madrid are level on points with Barcelona after 12 games despite Hazard not enjoying the best of starts, so if he can hit top form, they might be able to open up a gap in the coming months.