Chelsea slapped £17.5m price tag on technically gifted winger

Chelsea are reportedly willing to let Hakim Ziyech leave the club providing that they receive a fee of €20m (£17.5m) for his services.

The Morocco international has failed to live up to expectations since arriving from Ajax in 2020, and he has quickly fallen down the Blues’ pecking order.

The likes of Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling were already preferred up top over Ziyech, who is now facing even greater competition for minutes under Graham Potter.

Chelsea have reinforced their attack significantly with the January signings of Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix, David Datro Fofana and Noni Madueke, leading to the expectation that Ziyech will depart sooner rather than later.

The 29-year-old has enjoyed the most positive period of his season since helping Morocco reach the World Cup semi-finals, but he will likely be allowed to head elsewhere regardless.

AC Milan have been heavily linked with a move for Ziyech, although the Rossoneri’s move for the Moroccan apparently collapsed due to his wage demands.

Since Milan pulled out of the race, Barcelona, Everton, Newcastle United and Roma are believed to have taken an interest in signing Ziyech before the January transfer deadline.

With the attacker under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2025, journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claims that Chelsea want a fee of €20m (£17.5m) to sanction a sale in the coming weeks.

The report states that Chelsea cannot send Ziyech out on loan and will only consider offers of a permanent exit this month, but that £17.5m fee could be driven down in negotiations.

Roma are believed to be pushing the hardest to sign Ziyech amid speculation surrounding the future of Nicolo Zaniolo, who has supposedly been the subject of a successful £30m offer from Bournemouth.

Tottenham Hotspur have also been pushing hard to sign Zaniolo in the January window, but Roma boss Jose Mourinho believes that the Italy international will “unfortunately” stay at the club as Tuesday’s deadline approaches.

“Zaniolo has been saying for a month that he wants to leave. Unfortunately, it looks like I was right,” Mourinho told a press conference. “I say unfortunately, because the player has been saying for a month that he wants to leave. If a player tells everyone he no longer wants to wear the Roma jersey, I have to say unfortunately.

“The ideal situation is for the player to be happy. I said that I expected him to stay, but as things stand today, I have to add unfortunately to that sentence.”

Ziyech boasts 14 goals and 11 assists from 98 games in a Chelsea shirt since 2020, setting up one goal in 15 appearances across all competitions in the 2022-23 campaign.

That sole assist came for Kai Havertz in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace earlier this month, and Ziyech kept his place in the starting lineup for last weekend’s goalless stalemate with Liverpool.

Ziyech could now make his third successive Premier League start – and only a fifth of the season – when Potter’s team host West London rivals Fulham on Friday.