Hakim Ziyech has a lot of things going right for him at the moment. The Moroccan attacking forward, who recently turned 27, will be arriving at Stamford Bridge for a reported fee of 40 million Euros, and is seen as a player who will massively impact the club’s fortunes with his clinical ability to score goals and provide assists.
Don’t take our word for it – consider what Blues legend and current gaffer Frank Lampard had to say about him.
Fans who have followed Ziyech’s exploits over the last year and a half in the Champions League are rightfully buzzed about signing him.
Ziyech ‘s transfer has, surprisingly enough, ruffled very few feathers among the Chelsea faithful, with it being a universal consensus that he will play a big role in helping the Blues consolidate this season’s progress.
The high regard in which he has been held by the fans so far, however, might have suffered a little setback after a photo of his setup on FIFA that emerged yesterday on Reddit.
The picture by itself seems innocuous – it shows Ziyech’s TV screen and his squad on Ultimate Team of the latest iteration of Electronic Arts’ football game, FIFA 20.
It’s only natural that he’s playing the game, considering all the major football leagues have been shut down owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, what will certainly bug Chelsea fans a great deal is that while Ziyech has used his own card in the position of striker, he’s inexplicably decided to opt for the playing kit of Chelsea’s arch nemesis Liverpool for the entire team.
It is no secret that this year the Merseyside club has been heavily favoured, with many of its players being highly rated on the game.
In fact, a record five players from the same club featured in the game’s highly coveted Team of The Year promotion.
Adding insult to injury, however, was Ziyech’s decision to add Reds’ manager Jürgen Klopp into the side.
While it was probably done to strengthen Virgil van Dijk’s card, Liverpool fans will have lost no time in proclaiming how even a future Blues player chooses to have Klopp in his team over his own manager.
One may, of course be reading too much into a situation that amounts to nothing. After all, the lad has proclaimed time and again his joy and appreciation for the Blues.
However, it is worth noting that in-game, at the very least, Ziyech prefers repping the Reds rather than his soon-to-be club.