Very happy with this signing, and hope, as always, he does well.  I'm not too concerned about the jump to the premiership because he has proven his ability in the CL.

One thing to remember is the ACON will see him gone in the middle of the seasons, right?

Not sure about the Sancho rumours now, maybe the club just think for the price it's better to go with Ziyech and him alone.  I do think this means the end for Pedro, and could maybe see us sign Willian to a 1yr extension despite his requests for another 2 years.

I think Willian will go and Sancho will replace him.

5 hours ago, dkw said:

The bolded bit to me is the most important part, and possibly will quieten down some of the more erm.. vociferous complainers who seem to think everyone at the club are completely inept and basically dont bother with scouting.

You have been here too long to still be an optimist!  

5 hours ago, coco said:

Iv'e become wary of raising my hopes with any player we sign at the moment. Price tag means nothing, youtube videos mean nothing, how they played against us means nothing. Literally every player is a gamble, and were not very good at gambling recently.

So i'll just keep my fingers crossed.

If anything we should be happy that the fee is not high and that we are getting a rather good player that will be spending his best years with us. Looks like a minimal risk gamble.

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

His low key goal celebrations remind me a bit of Cantona. This guy EXPECTS to assist and score ... 🙂

 

Most of those goals are against really poor sides who are already being beaten 10-0. When he scores against Real Madrid and Tottenham his celebrations are a lot more raucous

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

You have been here too long to still be an optimist!  

Ha ha ain't that the truth. 

So we are signing players when we can't. Such a Chelsea thing to do.

6 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

He looks like a real quality signing but I'm wondering why he's still in Holland when he's nearly 27. If anyone can think of a real top quality player who was playing in Holland at 27 let me know. It just seems odd.

One thing's for sure, coming to the PL from the Dutch league at 27 will be a huge test for him, not just in terms of quality but also pace and physicality. Ajax could play their B team and still steamroller most of the teams they face.

I know he's produced in the CL and he looks a real quality signing, but playing in the PL week-in week-out poses its own, and very different challenges.

Having watched a vid or two of him since yesterday he really reminds me of Mahrez. His shots, his free-kicks, his passes, his dummies, his feints, his skills, all remind me of Mahrez, plus the fact of course he's a left-footer which we really need. Mahrez has produced in the toughest league in the world however. 

Excited by this signing. Genuine skill, vision, ability, creativity and an attacking edge that we sorely lack. Let's just hope he can produce all that in England.

This is the key question for me. Can he lift and adapt to England.

He is only slight and I suspect teams will try and rough him up a bit. As you say there are lots of lessons from Mahrez. That said I suspect Mahrez may be a little quicker than Ziyech. 

What gives me hope as I mentioned is the way he adapted for our second leg. Instead of trying to dribble past defenders he just started to drop into pockets of space and whip crosses in that were deadly.

Looking forward to him playing. Nice to have a left footer and I think he may have a Fabregas/Mata style wands for feet too.

Can't believe we are actually getting a quality player who costs less than BAKAYOKO, Drinkwater..

She is done it again..she had done it agaiiiin.. marinaaaaaaa. She has done it agaii 

Edited February 13, 20206 yr by The Don Antonio

26 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

Can't believe we are actually getting a quality player who costs less than BAKAYOKO, Drinkwater..

She is done it again..she had done it agaiiiin.. marinaaaaaaa. She has done it agaii 

Marina has done an amazing job!

2 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

This is the key question for me. Can he lift and adapt to England.

He is only slight and I suspect teams will try and rough him up a bit. As you say there are lots of lessons from Mahrez. That said I suspect Mahrez may be a little quicker than Ziyech. 

What gives me hope as I mentioned is the way he adapted for our second leg. Instead of trying to dribble past defenders he just started to drop into pockets of space and whip crosses in that were deadly.

Looking forward to him playing. Nice to have a left footer and I think he may have a Fabregas/Mata style wands for feet too.

 

I find it really interesting that this guy's Moroccan, or his parents are Moroccan, and Mahrez is from neighbouring Algeria, and they're so similar in style. I remember watching Queresma and thinking it must be a Portuguese thing, as many of the things he does are so reminiscent of Ronaldo, even if he's a far inferior player. It's just interesting how you can often tell a player's nationality by their style. Could Messi be anything other than Argentine? I don't think so. Ronaldinho. Had to be Brazilian. Mahrez and Ziyech also have incredibly similar physiques. I know Mahrez is more of a dribbler and may be faster but they're just so unerringly similar.

The board have been getting quite a lot of hate in recent years, some of it has been warranted. That transfer window in Conte's last season was one of the worst transfer windows we've had in recent memory but they are certainly making some very good buys

Kovacic, Jorginho, Pulisic and now Ziyech brought in the last few years. All players who have and will improve our first 11

Kepa is kinda sketchy right now, I still feel he has the potential to be very good for us but he's not been playing at the level he should be recently but he was one of the highest rated young GKs in football when we bought him 

Also delighted we never spent 80 million on Zaha

 

12 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

I find it really interesting that this guy's Moroccan, or his parents are Moroccan, and Mahrez is from neighbouring Algeria, and they're so similar in style. I remember watching Queresma and thinking it must be a Portuguese thing, as many of the things he does are so reminiscent of Ronaldo, even if he's a far inferior player. It's just interesting how you can often tell a player's nationality by their style. Could Messi be anything other than Argentine? I don't think so. Ronaldinho. Had to be Brazilian. Mahrez and Ziyech also have incredibly similar physiques. I know Mahrez is more of a dribbler and may be faster but they're just so unerringly similar.

Regarding Messi, he doesn't resemble the stereotypical Argentinian behaviour even if he does resemble what many from Argentina tried to be on the pitch, Maradona.

'

This is a sign he will be great. I think it's rather nice he's from Morocco since now people might say the Casablanca line...

 

Edited February 13, 20206 yr by Gol15

Absolutely brilliant news for us fans and Chelsea, looks and plays very similar to Mahrez, so there's the obvious comparison.

 

14 hours ago, Sindre said:

I like it.

Good player, good price and there is a lot to like about a left-winger cutting in with a thunderous shot, eye for a pass and good finishing.

He is left footed if you want a winger to cut in has to have the opposite foot to cut in on 

2 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

 

I find it really interesting that this guy's Moroccan, or his parents are Moroccan, and Mahrez is from neighbouring Algeria, and they're so similar in style. I remember watching Queresma and thinking it must be a Portuguese thing, as many of the things he does are so reminiscent of Ronaldo, even if he's a far inferior player. It's just interesting how you can often tell a player's nationality by their style. Could Messi be anything other than Argentine? I don't think so. Ronaldinho. Had to be Brazilian. Mahrez and Ziyech also have incredibly similar physiques. I know Mahrez is more of a dribbler and may be faster but they're just so unerringly similar.

If you’ve ever played 5 aside with North Africans you would notice they have that wirey build, very quick feet and skilful, North Africans have they attributed to make world class players, Zidane comes to mind 

He's sh*t we need  Jack Grelish ........

 

6 hours ago, evissy said:

So we are signing players when we can't. Such a Chelsea thing to do.

What on earth are you on about  ?   We've just signed a top quality player at a bargain price in todays market and we get him in time for next season. Fantastic bit of business by the club.

Good news is, we'll finally have someone who can take consistently good set pieces. 

I wonder if we will see Willian and/or Pedro agree to pre-contracts with other clubs now? Or is that only an option during the transfer window?

7 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

I wonder if we will see Willian and/or Pedro agree to pre-contracts with other clubs now? Or is that only an option during the transfer window?

Both will leave for free in the summer if no new contracts get signed.

We finally get a good left footed right winger!

For f**ks sake, what is it with modern football journalism. Clearly written by someone who doesn't like Chelsea, the BBC article headline is

Quote

Hakim Ziyech: The street footballer set to become Chelsea's next big-money signing

33 million quid. 'Big' money signing? Really? Our keeper, yes, a big money signing. 33 million today. That's probably below average for a signing by a Premier league side. I know it's not really important, but this trend that even the BBC, let alone the Daily Mail, can't just report news without having to put a twist in there to paint a picture that suits the journalists agenda. It's half what we paid for Pulisc. It just is not a big money signing anymore. So why say that? Is it because the perception that Chelsea buy everything whilst Spurs and Liverpool just sign local kids playing in the park?