Mourinho gives an honest verdict on 'awful' trainer Hazard

Jose Mourinho has opened up on what he feels has cost his former Chelsea star Eden Hazard a chance to fulfill his potential.

Eden Hazard would be a much better player if he trained properly instead of relying on talent alone, says Jose Mourinho.

The former Chelsea manager coached Hazard for two-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge between 2013 and 2015. The duo won Premier League and EFL Cup titles together in London.

But while Mourinho acknowledges Hazard as an ‘amazing player’, he feels the Belgian’s lack of discipline has let him down.

“The truth is what you see from him, he is an amazing player with awful training,” Mourinho told talkSPORT on Hazard.

“You can only imagine what he could be with a super professional attitude in training.

“In the end, he is an amazing kid, he is an incredible family man, he looks like he doesn’t belong to this generation of players, he’s very quiet and is totally focused on family, on kids, on parents, on a very quiet life.

“But he gets onto the pitch every morning and … he doesn’t work much.

“When he gets onto the pitch, you don’t see the reflection of a week of work, you just see a reflection of his talent.

“He is this amazing player and you can imagine if he was a top professional. When he went to Real Madrid I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is going to the biggest club in the world and is going to feel this huge pressure to be always at the top, this guy is going to win the Golden Ball, because he is amazing.’

“But in terms of his fitness, his speed, his condition, he would be a much better player [if he trained properly]. What you see is just the talent that got Eden to where he is.”

Hazard backed for Euro 2020

In Euro 2020 so far, Hazard has failed to start in each of Belgium’s two games after another injury-hit campaign at Real Madrid.

Mourinho, though, believes the 30-year-old can return to the top of his game in the latter stages of the Red Devils’ campaign.

The Portuguese said: “In this case, he is back to Belgium, back to the big stage. You can feel he has a good relationship with Roberto Martinez, but he is on the bench at this moment.

“But he will be ready to jump to win watches, so I believe Belgium will end the Euros with Eden starting and probably at the top of his game.”