Hakim Ziyech’s exit from the Blues appeared to be going to bring in an unexpected windfall of £8 million, but his transfer to Al-Nassr fell through at the last minute.
In the January transfer window a move to Paris Saint-Germain looked set to be finalised on deadline day, but the deal fell through after documents to officially sanction the move were not submitted in time. Despite being on the verge of departing, Ziyech was chosen in the starting XI for the Blues first game in February before going on to make another ten Premier League appearances in the remaining months of the season.
Following a repeat of the failed transfer from earlier this year, Ziyech has provided a sharp message to the reports he has issues in his knees. On Instagram, he posted a photo of both of his knees with the caption ‘knee problems right??’ *two laughing face emojis*.
A summer exodus plan was put in place by Mauricio Pochettino ahead of his arrival as the new Chelsea manager and already ten stars have left, including Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, with another two expected to follow shortly.
Chelsea will also still likely want Ziyech off their books before the start of the 2023/24 season but finding a potential suitor could be difficult.
The former Ajax man sees his contract expire in 2025 with it highly unlikely any renewal is negotiated or an immediate transfer is sealed given the reservations many teams will likely have upon hearing of Al-Nassr’s finding when conducting medical tests, although Ziyech clearly considers those claims to be false