The Belgium international and the retired Super Eagles skipper played together for five years at Chelsea with the Nigerian now revealing one of the most shocking training ground details about his former teammate.
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has named Eden Hazard as the laziest player he ever played with, but admitted that the Real Madrid star’s natural talent always bailed him out of trouble.
Mikel, now plying his trade in Turkey with Trabzonspur, won the Premier League and Europa League together with Hazard as the Real Madrid star grew up to become one of the best players in the world.
Hazard’s natural talents has taken him thus far and not his training abilities, Mikel believes.
“Hazard has an incredible talent,” Mikel told beIN Sports in Turkey, as monitored by Soccernet.ng.
“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 [at the weekend] he was always man of the match, it was unbelievable.”
Mikel however reserved praise for another former teammate and current manager of Chelsea, Frank Lampard.
Mikel hailed Lampard, who is in his first season as manager at Chelsea, as the hardest-working player he played alongside.