“The best I’ve seen”-Former Chelsea full-back speaks on playing alongside Eden Hazard

Former Chelsea defender, Ola Aina has opened up on his time with the Chelsea first team and training with Eden Hazard.

Former Chelsea full-back, Ola Aina opens up on his time at Chelsea, and the surprising ambidexterity of his former teammate, Eden Hazard, Soccernet.ng reports.

The newly signed Nottingham Forest full-back went through the Chelsea Youth ranks, and got six senior team appearances at the Stamford Bridge. He was included in the first team from the 2014/2015 season and on The Beautiful Game Podcast, he discussed how good Eden Hazard was.

Hazard, who was Chelsea’s talisman for nearly half a decade, drew comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in that time, winning the PFA Player of the Year thrice. Aina heaped praise on Eden, mentioning he’s the best he’s played with. He said;

“Eden is the best I’ve seen. He didn’t break a sweat in training, he came, did what he wanted, and he yielded results.”

Hazard has been popularly addressed as Lazy in training by ex-teammates and managers, and Aina clarified on that.

“If you don’t know him, and you watched him in training, you’ll wonder if that’s actually him, but on the pitch, he’s another person entirely.”

Hazard joined Madrid in 2018 and was widely tipped to fill the shoes of Cristiano who had just left the Los Blancos to join Juventus, but his time at the Santiago Bernabeu has been marred by injuries, and the thirty-two-year-old is currently a free agent. Speaking on whether Hazard’s training style played an impact on how his Madrid move turned out, Aina said;

“I’m surprised, and I think everyone is. He has a lot of talent even before he came to Chelsea. He was helping Lille, win the league, so it’s a surprise, but these things happen in football. I’m just happy everyone got to see how good he was.”

The Super Eagles defender, however, mentioned that no one who has watched football could call Eden Hazard a flop.

“It’s unfortunate what happened in Madrid, but Eden is Eden. Madrid was a surprise, but no one can call a flop, I think he was just unlucky.”

Having joined Nottingham Forest, the Nigerian defender is looking to establish himself as a formidable defender.