John Obi Mikel has described Eden Hazard as the laziest player he has ever seen.

Mikel played along with Hazard at Chelsea between 2012 and 2017.

The pair worked under many coaches that include Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Guus Hiddink, and Antonio Conte.

Speaking to radio show Dubai Eye 103.8, as cited by the Sport Bible, the former Nigerian midfielder opened up about training habits of Hazard and admitted he got away with it due to his standout performances on matchday.

“I never knew how much training meant to these guys until I joined Chelsea,” Mikel said.

“The way they play in games is the way they train. There was tackles flying in, there was fights at the training ground. There’s people proper boxing at the training ground because everybody wants to be in the team come the weekend.

“There is no place for you to like be like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to train today.’ The only player I saw that did that and got away with it was Eden Hazard.”

After the radio host mentioned that John Terry said the same thing about Hazard, former midfielder Mikel added: “Oh, he never trained! He was the laziest footballer I’ve ever seen in my life! But come the weekend he produced. He was the Man of the Match.”

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However, since moving to Real Madrid in 2019, Hazard has struggled to pin a first team spot due to frequent injuries and form inconsistency and was often criticised for putting on weight.

“I actually think, when you look at him now, he’s lost a little weight,” Mikel added. “But when he was at Chelsea, the night before game, he sat there for like 20 minutes after eating rice pudding. He likes his food. But then he goes to bed, wakes up in the morning and produces at 3pm.”

The former Nigeria international continued: “We just let him do whatever he wanted in training. He stood there, when the training started. He plays in one position. He was like, ‘Can you pass me the ball?’ And we’re like, ‘No, we’re not passing you the ball because we’ve been running the whole time.’

“And then he goes in, after training, and just mucks about. But come the weekend, he just produced the goods.”