Chelsea’s new signing Hakim Ziyech is known as a great player with a silky touch and deadly passes. Not much is known about his life off the pitch but it looks as entertaining as his dribbles. “Many fake figures are walking around football fields, so I trust few people,” our new signing said in a recent interview. “It’s a big puppet show and it’s getting worse.
“The puppet show also depends on something like social media. That has destroyed the world.” Like a true entertainer and master of the game, Ziyech breaks down his statement just like an opposition defence. As you scroll down his Instagram feed you see pictures of Ziyech on a Lamborghini, a yacht, chilling out at an exclusive animal sanctuary in Dubai open to everyone but the general public.
Ziyech can be forgiven for his opulent lifestyle though – Hakim’s father died from multiple sclerosis when the future Ajax star was only 10. The youngest of 9 children, Hakim surely knows a deal about hardships, even though his mother did her best to raise Ziyech’s brothers and sisters on her own.
Fortunately, the lad had a deal of talent and managed to progress through Hereenven to Twente. Things didn’t go as planned at Twente – Hakim was stripped of the captaincy for his disrespectful comments about the club and how it’s being run by the club hierarchy.
After being advised to keep quiet, Hakim became something of an enigma. His silence off the pitch never translated to the inspired performances and soon enough he received a call to join Erik ten Hag’s Ajax. Ziyech, however, is not only about controversies – the 26-year-old is known for his charitable acts too with the case of Leon de Kogel being the most prominent one.
De Kogel, who used to play for Utrecht and Go Ahead Eagles got into a career-ending car accident but Ziyech was there to help. “I didn’t know him personally, but I knew immediately: I have to help him,” said Ziyech who funded De Kogel’s rehabilitation.
Moreover, he’s used social media on more than one occasion to find the young fans he promised to give his shirt to after the game. As controversial as our signing is, he surely is a man of a big heart.