Hakim Ziyech completed his last training session at Ajax on Saturday. The playmaker, whose contract expires on July 1, will play for Chelsea next season.
According to trainer Erik ten Hag, it was an emotional day for Ziyech, who made the switch from FC Twente in 2016 and scored 38 times with the team from Amsterdam in 112 league matches.
“You can see his emotions and that this does something to him,” Ten Hag said on the training field to the Ajax club channel. “He says that he is not a man of club love, but that is different at Ajax. It is an emotional day for him, but I think he looks back on it in a good way.”
The Moroccan international took the doubles with Ajax last year and then made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League. This year, he was at the top of the Eredivisie with the club when the competition was definitively terminated due to the corona virus. Earlier this year, he signed a five-year contract with Chelsea.
“Hakim arrives as a big man at Chelsea, a top club in Europe,” says Ten Hag. “This is the example for our younger players. They must first become the best here and win titles and only then take the step.”
Ziyech himself looked back on “many beautiful moments” during his last training. “I have always felt at home here and I will miss everyone,” said the 27-year-old player, as a souvenir of the bust of the Greek god Ajax, handed over by the director of football affairs Marc Overmars. “The players here have become more friends than teammates.”
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