Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech in Talks for Potential Saudi Arabia Transfer

"A new meeting has been scheduled for next week to discuss the proposal in more detail," the well-informed journalist tweeted.

Ziyech is widely expected to leave Chelsea this summer, but the London club is struggling to find a buyer willing to meet their financial demands. The club is said to have set the transfer price for the Moroccan at 37 million pounds sterling, an amount which, added to the player’s salary demands, makes the transaction difficult. Despite the interest of many European clubs for the attacking midfielder, Chelsea could find themselves in an impasse.

The French champions, PSG, were recently in a good position to welcome Ziyech. Their transfer attempt during the January window failed due to administrative problems. Ziyech’s move to Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is seen as a surprise for many. Observers believe the player is not yet ready to join the cohort of world-renowned footballers who choose to end their careers in the extremely wealthy Gulf countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

This news comes on the heels of the bombshell announcement of Karim Benzema’s transfer to the Saudi club Al Ittihad, as part of a three-year contract estimated at 200 million euros per year. Before Benzema, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who had signed a similar contract with the Saudi club Al Nasser in December 2022.