17 August 2023 , 10:05
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Hakim Ziyech is undergoing a medical at Galatasaray as he completes his exit from Chelsea – six months after his desired move to Paris Saint-Germain collapsed.
The Moroccan international – who starred for his nation at last year’s World Cup, but struggled at club level – saw his loan switch to PSG break down at the eleventh hour in the January transfer window. So confident were all parties of the move being completed that Ziyech had spent the entirety of the day in the French capital to seal the deal.
Ziyech made just 35 Premier League starts for the Blues across three seasons but was almost frozen out entirely last campaign; he was named in the club’s starting XI in the league on just six occasions – as he fell out of favour under Graham Potter and then Frank Lampard.
Now aged 30, the wide forward moved to Stamford Bridge from Ajax in 2020 but regular changes in the dugout and a plethora of attacking arrivals saw his game-time limited at the Blues. That was accelerated last season, and the first-team squad has undergone major changes since.
In the past year, the number of attacking arrivals at the Blues has included Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku and Mykhailo Mudryk, pushing Ziyech further to the peripheries of the first-team squad.
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The former Ajax star is now closing in on a move to Turkish champions Galatasaray, with the first part of a medical taken on Wednesday with the announcement of a deal thought to be imminent. Six months ago, he had agreed a move to PSG only for the move to collapse.
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Ziyech's final months at Chelsea were frustrating (Getty Images)A report on Sky Sports described how Ziyech was ‘incandescent’ with the situation as he became increasingly desperate to seal the deal to PSG late in the day. This included sending text messages to Blues owner Todd Boehly, instructing him to give the move the green light.
The wide forward was so desperate to seal his switch to the Parc des Princes that he was willing to use his own money in a late move to hasten any formalities. Yet PSG were said to have been sent the incorrect documentation for his deal by Chelsea before the correct copies were then sent – but without the required signatures.
Ziyech started in that month’s Premier League games at home to Fulham and in an away defeat to Tottenham, but his spell at Stamford Bridge ended with a period of frustration – as Chelsea finished 12 th under Lampard, prior to this summer’s appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, who did not oppose Ziyech’s exit.