Hakim Ziyech (born 19 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Chelsea and the Morocco national team. He is nicknamed "The Wizard", a title given to him by Ajax supporters.
Ziyech started his professional career at Dutch club Heerenveen in 2012 and signed for fellow Dutch club Twente two years later. In 2016, he signed for Ajax on a five-year deal, with a reported transfer fee of €11m. The 2018–19 season was the most prolific season in Ziyech's career, as he scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists in the Eredivisie. He joined Premier League club Chelsea in the 2020–21 season.
Originally eligible to play for the Netherlands or Morocco at international level, he represented Morocco at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ziyech is known for his finishing, dribbling, long passes, technique, and ability from free kicks. In 2019, he was selected as one of the 20 best players in the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–19 season. At the end of the same year, he was ranked 29th in The Guardian's list of "The 100 best footballers in the world".
Ziyech is a right winger who likes to take up a wide starting position and then drive infield with the ball, on to his stronger foot and into positions where he poses a threat on goal, either with shots, through balls or crosses. He is most dangerous coming into central areas and looking to play killer balls to teammates making diagonal runs towards goal from the left. He is particularly skilled at playing deft balls over a defence, and if his teammates time their runs well, they often very suddenly find themselves with a one-on-one shooting opportunity (below). His movement off the flank means the right-back can overlap.
The dip with which Ziyech plays those balls into the area is one of his greatest skills, not only because he so often creates clear-cut chances for his teammate, but also because he teases the opposition goalkeeper with a ball that looks like it might float through to them but drops short into the zone in front of goal. Ziyech can manipulate the ball impressively, and that leads to him creating plenty of chances for his team. He has incredible balance, speed and acceleration, is able to shake off the attention of an opponent with ease and create himself shooting opportunities, rather than going down the line to cross.
The threat he poses when he moves infield means he draws defenders towards him, creating gaps for others further forwards. That also works the other way around; teammates know that when Ziyech moves towards goal they should make runs that take defenders away and create space for him to shoot. When he does get into a position to shoot from range, he usually looks to bend his foot around the ball and aim for the far corner. |
