I was supposed to be Chelsea's £38m next Eden Hazard - now I'm a free agent who ‘wants to be left alone’

In 2019, Hakim Ziyech seemed to have the world at his feet. Blessed with immense flair and an eye for goal, he scored 22 times for Ajax and inspired them to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The next year, Chelsea spent €44m (£38m now) to sign him and he scored in each of his first two starts. The Moroccan was at the peak of his powers.

He didn’t remain at that peak for long, however. By 2023, Ziyech was unwanted at Stamford Bridge and left fuming when a transfer to PSG fell apart due to paperwork problems – now, two years and one colossal falling-out with a club later, Ziyech is unemployed and simply wants “to be left alone.”

So what happened to Hakim Ziyech? Why did a career which was going so well fall apart? And will he ever grace a football field again?

What happened to Hakim Ziyech?

Chelsea fans will remember the frustrations of watching Ziyech all too well. Unplayable on his day, he could all too easily drift out of games when he was short of his best and seldom looked prepared to battle his way into matches in which he was struggling.

Frank Lampard, then his manager, once described Ziyech as a natural successor to Eden Hazard (who had left for Real Madrid a year before the Moroccan arrived) but the kind of stellar performances that were par for the Belgian’s course were all too few and far between despite a bright start to life at Stamford Bridge.

Ziyech never fully established himself as a regular starter, particularly in the league, and drifted in and out of the starting eleven, first under Lampard and then under Thomas Tuchel. By the time Graham Potter was installed as Chelsea head coach in late 2022, Ziyech had become a largely peripheral figure and the club were looking for someone to take him on.

While the winger may have been a let down at Chelsea, the flashes of talent he continued to show still persuaded PSG to give him a chance on loan – but the January deadline day deal fell through at the last minute when it transpired that Chelsea had failed to properly submit the required paperwork. Ziyech was reportedly furious and would only start one more match for the club.

In the summer, Ziyech finally got his move – a loan-to-buy deal with Galatasaray. Ziyech, who had dreamed of competing for the Champions League with PSG, always came across as resentful of having to move to Turkey instead to continue his career and it was never a remotely happy marriage.

Ziyech would only ever start 16 games for his new employers, and within 18 months a messy divorce would take place after a comprehensive falling-out between coach and player which saw him become a figure of revulsion for Galatasaray’s fan base.

“Galatasaray is over for me. I don't want to play here anymore. I'm leaving,” he told the Turkish press before getting his wish. “I've never seen a coach of such a low level. I don't care that much. I want to be left alone, no matter what happens. I regret coming here."

Since successfully forcing his way out of Galatasaray, a brief stint with Qatari side Al-Duhail lasted just a few months before another contract was mutually terminated. Ziyech is now seemingly fed up with the trajectory of his career at 32, and is without a club. Fans of many of his former employers only too ready to bemoan his attitude and application. But have we seen the last of him just yet?

Why Ziyech’s career may have one final act in Spain

For all the issues that Ziyech has endured (and arguably created) since falling out of favour at Chelsea, there seems to be at least one team that’s considering giving him a final chance at the top level – although it’s not yet clear whether it’s an opportunity Ziyech will accept.

According to Spanish media outlet AS, Sevilla want to sign the winger and, given that he is a free agent, are able to do so despite the closure of the transfer window. The problem is that they don’t currently have the cash to give him the contract that he wants.

With the Andalucian side unable to offload goalkeeper Álvaro Fernández as planned, they are left without enough money within their wage budget to meet Ziyech’s apparent demands but have, nevertheless, “left a small pot aside” according to sporting director Antonio Cordón “in case, at the last minute, a player decides to significantly reduce his salary and his expectations.”

That player pretty clearly appears to be Ziyech. He may have other offers on the table that are giving him pause for thought, but the question asked of him seems to be whether he wants to extend his career and play as much for the love of the game as for the money, or whether Sevilla simply aren’t offering enough to make him want to lace up his boots one last time.

Only he knows whether his sulky spell at Galatasaray was sufficient to kill off his interest in playing the game for its own sake, or whether it would take a substantial pay day to make him stop wishing to simply be left alone. This, however, seems to be his last chance to play at the highest level – and his last chance to capture the scintillating form that made him one of Europe’s most exciting players back in 2019.