The news had the effect of a bomb on social networks. Over 130,000 tweets to comment on this winter post-transfer window movement. Moroccan international Hakim Ziyech will leave Ajax Amsterdam this summer to join Chelsea, the Amsterdam club announced on Thursday, which said it had reached a 40 million deal with the London club.
🔙 Hakim Ziyech | This incredible free kick against Chelsea in #LDC. 😍
👌 And the celebration behind. 🤨
✈️ The Moroccan international will join the Blues this summer. pic.twitter.com/rPLmoqN41i
“Ajax has reached an agreement with Chelsea FC on the transfer of Hakim Ziyech to the English club. The transfer will be effective from the coming season, as of July 1, 2020, "said the Dutch club in a statement.
"The clubs have agreed on a sum of 40 million euros, which could amount to 44 million euros," said the Dutch club.
Politesses between the two clubs
The announcement ends days of speculation about the future of the 26-year-old striker who joined Ajax in 2016 from FC Twente, another club in the Dutch first division, for an amount of 11 million euros.
🔙 Hakim Ziyech | This incredible free kick against Chelsea in #LDC. 😍
👌 And the celebration behind. 🤨
✈️ The Moroccan international will join the Blues this summer. pic.twitter.com/rPLmoqN41i
"Ziyech is a left-hander who is comfortable playing on the right side before entering the axis, as he has often done in recent years with Ajax with a devastating effect, but who also likes play left to attack, taking full advantage of the space and dropping the ball into the box, "said Chelsea in a statement.
We have some Hakim Ziyech news… 👀
- Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 13, 2020Footballer of the year in the Netherlands in 2018
Ziyech made his comeback Wednesday evening when his team's victory in Arnhem (0-3) in the quarter-finals of the Netherlands Cup after a muscle tear in a calf in January. The player's current contract with Ajax runs until June 30, 2022.
The Moroccan international, named Netherlands footballer of the year in 2018, has so far played 160 official matches with Ajax's first team and scored 49 goals. Ajax players, nicknamed the "children" of Johan Cruyff, semi-finalists in the Champions League last season, will not be able to repeat the same performance this year, since they finished 3rd in their group in C1 and have been transferred to the Europa League.