“Every summer I gained 4 or 5 kilos. It was already a lot for 10 months”

Eden Hazard has been retired for greater than two years, however his determine continues to generate debate. This time it’s the Belgian himself who has revealed the good weak level of his profession: his relationship with meals, the size and self-discipline off the pitch.

In a number of interviews given after hanging up his boots, the previous Chelsea and Actual Madrid participant has admitted that on his summer season holidays he gained a number of kilos and that he by no means had the intention of residing as a bodily maniac.

Hazard defined that every season he ended exhausted and that he conceived the summer season as a interval of absolute disconnection: barbecues, good meals, alcohol and 0 scheduled races. On this context, he acknowledges that when he returned to work he did so with a recurring chubby of about 4 or 5 kilos, a margin that in elite soccer is sufficient to make the distinction between dominating and struggling.

Removed from shielding himself, the Belgian assumes that his life-style didn’t match the mould of the obsessive skilled. He defines himself as a “bon vivant”, somebody who enjoys the desk, assembly with pals and toasting, and admits that he was by no means drawn to the thought of ​​prolonging his profession based mostly on strict dietary surveillance.

He even goes as far as to relativize the function of recent dietetics, which he downplays besides for many who aspire to play past the age of 40. He, he says, knew that he was not going to belong to that group.

His time at Actual Madrid was marked by accidents, weight issues and a picture removed from the one he supplied in London. In the present day, with distance, Hazard doesn’t cover: he says that every preseason in Spain he began behind the remainder in bodily situation and that this actuality, added to the blows and the dearth of continuity, prevented him from justifying the large switch that took him to the Santiago Bernabéu.

In parallel, he claims that he at all times gave his all when he was match, however that he was not keen to sacrifice off the sector on the stage of different icons of his technology.

His love for beer has almost become a personal brand. In a talk with John Obi Mikel, published in 2024, the former Belgian international acknowledges that, like many compatriots, he especially enjoys that drink and that he used to indulge in some after games.

He does not present it as excess, but as part of a way of living football that is less ascetic than what the current standard requires.

Now retired, Hazard has settled into a routine focused on his family and the football growth of his children, who play in the Rayo Majadahonda youth team. He spends hours in the stands as a father, follows big events like the Tour de France from the couch and accepts without drama that his career might have been longer and more dominant with a different mentality.

But his own words about those “four or five extra kilos” every summer confirm that the greatest rival to his talent was never in front of him.