Eden Hazard was the ‘laziest player’ at Chelsea but ‘an incredible talent’ says former team-mate John Obi Mikel

Eden Hazard’s incredible talent on the ball made him a must-start player at Chelsea, but that ability wasn’t matched by work rate on the training pitch, says John Obi Mikel.

The Belgian international was the star man in west London, spending seven years at Stamford Bridge before moving to Real Madrid in June.

His dribbling, eye for goal and consistency all made Hazard the team’s most vital performer – but that was in stark contrast to his efforts at the Cobham Training Centre, where his lack of application was noted by midfielder Mikel. That said, he was still full of enormous praise for the attacker’s all-round quality.

The Nigerian spent five years in the same side as Hazard, who has just now started to find form at his new club after a start marred by fitness concerns.

“The laziest player I have played alongside is Eden Hazard,” Mikel told BeIN Sports.

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

At the other end of the scale to Hazard’s work rate, Mikel named Frank Lampard as the hardest-working team-mate he has played alongside.

Mikel departed Chelsea in 2017, continuing his career with short spells in China and with Middlesbrough, before moving to Turkey with Trabzonspor in the summer.