Bad boy who can spark new era
Hakim Ziyech may have had his issues in the Netherlands but he is a risk worth taking, writes Gary Jacob.
It was on a frenetic Champions League night at Stamford Bridge in November when Hakim Ziyech became a prime target for Chelsea. The winger created two goals for Ajax in a pulsating 4-4 draw and curled a free kick from the right touchline into the net via the head of Kepa Arrizabalaga, the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Frank Lampard has made no secret of his desire for his Chelsea team to score more goals after a transfer ban – which was lifted for the January transfer window after a successful appeal – prevented the club from replacing Eden Hazard in the summer. In Ziyech, Lampard may have found the solution to his attacking problems.
The Morocco international’s statistics go some way to illustrating why Chelsea have agreed a £33.6 million (NZ$68m) deal to sign the 26-year-old. He has been involved in 89 goals in 109 league appearances for Ajax since joining the club in 2016, reaching double figures for assists in each of his past six seasons. His arrival would surely threaten the future of Willian at Stamford Bridge.
But beyond the numbers there is a different story, that of a complex person who endured a difficult childhood.
There has been a moment at each of his three clubs in the Netherlands when the fans turned against him. When Ajax lost the title on the final day of the 2018 season to PSV Eindhoven, some supporters turned on the team when the bus returned to Amsterdam. Ziyech argued with them and then deleted all Ajax-related photos from his social-media accounts. Nobody expected him to stay at the club.
He came through at Heerenveen, where he gained a reputation for wild mood swings. He later explained that his background played a part in his struggles. Ziyech was born in Dronten in central Netherlands, the youngest of nine children. He was aged 10 when his father died of a muscle disease and he threatened to follow a similar path to two of his brothers, whose budding football careers were finished after a prison stint for burglary.
‘‘As a little kid I didn’t realise what it was like to have no father,’’ Ziyech later said. ‘‘I was 14 or 15 when I got really grumpy. I was really on the verge. I closed myself off to the outside world.’’
Heerenveen received a tip about a talented 11-year-old and scouted him playing for ASV Dronten. He joined them and lived with a foster family. Although he was one of the best players for his age, his behaviour off the pitch remained an issue. He was smoking and drinking. He dropped out of school and sometimes missed training. His mother intervened, saying that he needed to concentrate on football or risk being sucked into crime. Aziz Doufikar, the first Moroccan professional to play in the Netherlands, became a mentor without whom he might not have had a career.
Ziyech scored goals from about 15 free kicks in one season as a teenager and was made captain the following campaign.
But things were never smooth. In one instance, he sulked on the pitch after being told that he could not take a late penalty against a Feyenoord youth side.
Heerenveen gave him his debut against Rapid Bucharest in the Europa League in August, 2012, and he went on to play a handful of matches that season. His breakthrough came in the next campaign when he scored nine and made 10 league goals. His team-mates marvelled at his eye for a pass.
‘‘I was sat on the bench and tried to keep track of how often he saw openings that we didn’t see,’’ said Ramon Zomer, then a Heerenveen centre back.
‘‘There were a lot of them. It was not nice to be a substitute, but with Hakim on the field we at least had something to enjoy.’’
But Ziyech was always criticised if things went wrong and felt that he was not fully appreciated by the fans. He passed up the chance to move to Feyenoord to join Twente for £3.4m in 2014. He impressed enough for Alfred Schreuder to name him captain for the next season but his hopes of wearing the armband were dashed after the head coach’s dismissal in the summer.
Ziyech stayed and scored 17 league goals and notched 12 assists, prompting Ajax to seal a £9.2m deal for him at the end of the campaign. He has since improved with each season and had a hand in 34 goals league for Ajax last term.
Marc Overmars, Ajax’s director of football who signed Ziyech, said: ‘‘At Twente, Hakim was running 7km a game. Here, he is running almost 12km. He had to adapt, he had to fight more.
‘‘Now he has the strength and the power.’’
The Times, London
who enter a game must face at least three batters, unless the inning ends. Umpires also will have discretion to waive the rule in the event of an injury.
Managers willhave 20 seconds to ask for a replay challenge, down from 30 seconds.
Manfred had attempted to improve the pace of the game with some of his earlier rule changes, including the limit on mound visits and the introduction of the automatic intentional walk – but in 2019, the average game took 3 hours 10 minutes, an alltime high.
Most of the other rule changes for 2020 involve roster sizes and management. Chief among them is an increase in roster size from 25 to 26 players, with a maximum of 13 pitchers per team. The 26-man roster will be in effect from opening day through August 31 and again in the post-season.
From September 1 through the end of the regular season, rosters will expand to 28 players (with 14 pitchers) – a two-player increase from March through August, but down from the 40 players teams could carry under the old rules.
Another rule-change for 2020 intends to limit the number of mound appearances from position players, limiting such appearances to extra innings or blowouts in which one team leads by six or more runs.
There will be a special designation made for two-way players, such as the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani and the Cincinnati Reds’ Michael Lorenzen – but to qualify for the two-way designation they must pitch at least 20 innings and start at least 20 games in the field (or designated hitter), with at least three plate appearances in those games.
The Washington Post