Since Eden Hazard left Chelsea, all have been not well with his fitness status – in the white shirt has been absolutely dismal and even for the national team, his fitness issues are becoming a headache for all.
Belgium kick off their tournament on Saturday and Hazard’s preparation has been less than ideal.
“I’ve only had one full week of training,” Hazard told Belgian media channel RTBF.
“We’ll see, with the medical team what I’ll do for the first match.”
“To begin with, it will be the head coach’s decision, but I’m still not 100 percent so we’ll see what we’ll do.”
The 30-year-old has been unable to gain any consistency in the last two seasons and joined the Belgian camp still struggling with some niggles in his leg.
After finishing third at World Cup 2018, expectations are high for Belgium. With a host of major stars such as Thibaut Courtois, Yannick Carrasco, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne, it’s no surprise they are one of the favourites this year.
A healthy Hazard would help those ambitions, but the worry for Roberto Martinez is that trying to get him up to speed could become a hindrance to his plans.
The player himself has joked that he might retire from international football if Belgium win the tournament, but he knows they are expected to make a good go of it.
“Now when we play for the Red Devils, we always have that pressure on us,” he said.
“Because of what we did in the past, people expect us to always improve.”
“We know we did something amazing at the World Cup three years ago.”
“We are going to focus on doing better, there’s a lot of potential in this group.”
