Chelsea legend Eden Hazard has identified Antonio Conte as the manager who brought out the best in him during his career, albeit for an unconventional reason. Hazard, who retired from football at the age of 32 in October, decided not to join a new club after the conclusion of his contract with Real Madrid. Despite an injury-marred stint in Madrid, Hazard was widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s top players during his successful seven-year tenure at Chelsea, where he secured two league titles and four additional trophies, including the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award for the 2014/15 season.
Although Hazard’s award-winning season occurred under Jose Mourinho’s guidance, he shared with former Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel on The Obi One Podcast that he believed Antonio Conte was the manager who extracted his best performances. Hazard attributed this to Conte’s demanding training regimen, which fueled Hazard’s determination to savor the freedom he experienced on matchdays.
“I think my best time at Chelsea was with Antonio Conte,” Hazard revealed. “All the week training. I was going out Saturday, I need to enjoy a little bit because I know the day after is going to be back on the training ground. I have to do something, it’s my only 90 minutes I can enjoy. You remember him, stopping, tactics, ‘no we have to do that.’ Saturday was the best day for me.”
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In a surprising twist, when asked about the best player he ever played with, Hazard mentioned Ballon d’Or winners Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. However, he also named Gael Kakuta, a somewhat forgotten Chelsea wonderkid, as the most talented footballer he ever encountered. Hazard expressed awe at Kakuta’s exceptional talent during their time together at Chelsea, despite Kakuta playing only six Premier League games for the club between 2009 and 2015, with the majority of his Chelsea career spent on loan at Fulham and Dutch side Vitesse.