Chelsea’s new manager Thomas Tuchel has hinted that winger Hakim Ziyech will have to do a lot more if he wishes to get a regular place in the starting line-up at the club.
The former Ajax man was really tame during Chelsea’s win over Barnsley in the FA Cup last week and speaking after the match, Tuchel admitted that the 27-year-old will have to up his game if he wishes to survive in English football.
“For me it’s clear he needs to adapt to this kind of football, this kind of league,” Tuchel said earlier this week.
“I’s not the same intensity and it’s not the same competition as it is here.
“But he’s adapting and he has the certain quality to decide matches and the certain quality to do the unexpected, which can give us an extra twist in any game and on any level.
“He proved that with Ajax and of course we want to push him to the same level of performance that he showed there, and this is our job.”
And right after this, a report from Corrie Dello Sport is claiming that Hakim Ziyech is actually pondering over his future at Chelsea and he could try and move out in the summer.
The report claims: “In Chelsea, however, he struggled to fit in: rough impact, a lot of bench, some physical problems.
“He had slipped to the bottom of the Lampard hierarchy, exonerated on January 25th. And even Tuchel considers him a reserve. The Moroccan is considering asking for the sale in June: President Abramovich, last summer, had spent forty million to take him to Stamford Bridge.
“The winger is worried about the prospect of another season on the sidelines: only eleven appearances so far in the Premier League, of which eight as a starter.
“He feels left out of Tuchel’s plans. He has a contract with Chelsea until 2025 and will soon be asking managing director Marina Granovskaia for an interview.”
Hakim Ziyech has played in 11 Premier League games this season scoring just once and assisting three goals so far. And with each passing week, the winger’s influence has been on a decline.
Now this statement from Thomas Tuchel is a clear indication that Ziyech has fallen down the pecking order at the club but we are not sure the new boss will be too eager to let him leave in the summer.
The 27-year-old has four years left on his current deal meaning he has a lot of time to turn things around which the exact same thing that the management will be trying to tell him in the coming weeks.