Chelsea hoping Hakim Ziyech is the divine inspiration needed

Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech has made history as Ajax’s player of the year three seasons in a row. The Blues are hoping he is the divine inspiration they need.

Being named player of the season once is a big deal. Being named player of the season twice is fantastic. Three years in a row? That is club legendary status.

The jump from Eredivisie to Premier League is by no means a small one and there will be concerns when it happens at 27. But Chelsea will be hoping the Champions League runs of Ajax in recent seasons tell a more complete story. They will also be hoping that the Moroccan is the divine inspiration the Blues have been missing.

The Blues really are not that far away from being a complete team. Of course, that has been the case for years in various different forms. Jose Mourinho needed Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, and Diego Costa to string it all together in 2014/2015. Antonio Conte only needed Marcos Alonso, N’Golo Kante, David Luiz, and the right combination of formation to get it right in 2016/2017. Frank Lampard, like many other Chelsea managers before him, is close as well. The Blues will be hoping that Ziyech is part of that last bit of divine inspiration needed to move the club to where it wants to be.

The Blues have largely been without a creator since Fabregas cooled off around 2016. Antonio Conte solved around the problem with the 3-4-3 and movement taking out the creativity. Maurizio Sarri attempted something similar, but Jorginho is not a creator and the movement to create hit the same issues it did the previous season for Conte. Frank Lampard has been facing similar issues.

Ziyech is seen as the solution to that issue. He is a hardworking midfielder, occasionally winger, who will string things together and add creativity to the attack. His 21 assists this season will hopefully improve the Blues difficulties in finishing chances.

But until he proves that he can do that in England, there will be that notion that it was “just” the Eredivisie. Players like Christian Eriksen have shown that the jump is not impossible, but the simple fact of Ziyech staying in the league for so long may raise red flags for some. That is why his European performances need to be included too.

In his three seasons at Ajax, Ziyech has 18 assists spread across 45 Champions League and Europa League matches. The vast majority of those have come in the more recent seasons, implying that Ziyech has improved as he has gone. And, for comparisons sake, Eden Hazard only has 24 career assists in the Champions League and Europa League.

So Ziyech very much has the potential to come to Chelsea and give the Blues the last piece they need for their attack. There will be concerns, sure, but a three time player of the year winner is nothing to knock at. By almost any indication, Ziyech will arrive at Chelsea, find himself in the starting XI, and he will pick up exactly where he left off in the Netherlands.