Roy Keane would have kicked Belgium's Eden Hazard over his attitude had they been team-mates

Roy Keane has admitted he would have kicked any team-mate who repeatedly spoke of leaving his club after questioning Belgium star Eden Hazard's attitude ahead of the Republic of Ireland's clash with Belgium.

Keane, in his role as a Champions League TV pundit, branded the Chelsea star "a spoilt child" and said he would "kick him up and down the training pitch" if he were one of his team-mates earlier this season.

Ireland face Hazard's Belgium in their second Group E fixture at the Euro 2016 finals in Bordeaux on Saturday, and while the 44-year-old Republic of Ireland assistant manager believes the midfielder is a talented player, he did not appreciate his willingness to link himself with Paris St Germain in February.

Speaking at the Republic's Versailles training base on Thursday, he said: "That's nothing personal, I would do that to anybody who was talking about possibly wanting to leave all the time.

"It's nothing against the lad - I think he's a talented boy. I'd like him to be in our group, he's a really, really top player.

"He's had a difficult season, I suppose, but that's because maybe he set his standards so high the previous season.

"If you'd asked me if I was playing with anybody, whether I was at Forest, Rockmount, Cobh Ramblers, and they were constantly talking - if it was true - that they wanted to leave and they had a poor attitude to training, then I would kick them in training, yes.

"But I have kind of done that with most players, I suppose, even lads who didn't want to leave."