Did you have a ‘shocking rumor from Tottenham Hotspur for Hakim Ziyech’ during your summer transfer window Bingo card? Because I didn’t, but I’m against it as well. Dutch outlet AD today report that Tottenham are considering a move for the 29-year-old Dutch international and attacking midfielder.
Eh!
But wait, you say, Chelsea do not sell players to Tottenham. And you’d be right – they don’t! The last player to go straight from Chelsea to Spurs was Carlo Cudicini in 2009, and that was on a free transfer. But here’s the thing: there’s a new sheriff in town. Chelsea owner Todd Boehly doesn’t have the baggage with Spurs that the ownership group under Roman Abramovich had, and Boehly has also handed over much of the administrative staff since taking over. There is actually a real possibility that if the player wants to leave West London and wants to move to NORTH London, something will happen, mainly because money is fungible and can be exchanged for goods and services.
AD say Ziyech wants to leave Chelsea and was exploring the possibility of returning to Ajax last week, and that Spurs are “looking to discuss a move” for him to London this week. That’s about all there is – nothing about the potential price, Chelsea’s willingness to sell or anything. So keep that in mind too.
I have to say I don’t hate it. Ziyech is 29 now, so he’s a different kind of win-now signing and would likely be the one Tottenham would bring in to replace Bryan Gil’s spot. Ziyech can play in the attacking midfield strip and is a good player. He would fill the need for a dribbling and creative attacking player in the same way as Ruslan Malinovskyi. He’s not a prolific goalscorer, but he had an npxG+xA/90 of 0.48 in 1300 minutes for Chelsea last season, quite respectable.
Malinovskyi would be cheaper and has a better outside shot than Ziyech, but honestly I’d take either of them on a short-term contract or even a loan. I can’t really vouch for the source – the article is in Dutch and it’s not De Telegraaf – so we should always be skeptical. But if we look at it from the “would I be upset if that happened” angle? No, no, I wouldn’t be mad. Good player at the right price, and the Chelsea stench washes away right away with a little soap and sunshine.
