Fabrizio Romano has just reported that Hakim Ziyech is going to make his loan move from Chelsea to Galatasaray permanent, the “obligation to buy clause [has been] triggered and signed,” the insider Tweeted.
The Turkish side have activated the clause to buy him, and Chelsea have confirmed the agreement. This stage looked uncertain for a while as he was struggling earlier in the year, but clearly they think there’s more to come. He’s played 16 Super Lig games for the league leaders, with 6 goals and 3 assists.
🚨🟡🔴 Hakim Ziyech will not return to Chelsea as he’s staying to Galatasaray on permanent move.
Obligation to buy clause, triggered and signed as Chelsea already sent letter to Gala confirming the agreement. pic.twitter.com/AAk8WHL3k2
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 8, 2024
According to reporting earlier this year, his loan fee was around £4m and this option to make it permanent is even less than that, so it’s pocket money really. Still, his wage come off the books and it’s one less unhappy face to have to deal with in preseason. In situations like this, it’s always better to move on for the benefit of the whole squad rather than drag things out for the sake of a million here or there.
Other reports claim that any payoff we get will just be for his remaining contract. So in fact we’re getting nothing apart from the winger off our books.
A strange Chelsea career which never took off
Despite having produced some nice moments for Ajax in their run to the Champions League semi finals, Ziyech never really looked like a player ready to take Chelsea to the next level, and there wasn’t a huge amount of hype about his signing.
He played for us through some pretty strange times, from Covid to ownership changes and through a few different managers. He did get a Champions League medal with us of course, but at no point in his three full seasons with us did he ever look like he was on course to being a really top player.
The fact we’re only getting a few million for his transfer shows that ultimately he never quite fulfilled that early potential.
