How Frank Lampard Convinced Hakim Ziyech To Leave Ajax And Join Chelsea

Hakim Ziyech has admitted that he was "impressed" with how Frank Lampard spoke about football ahead of his move to Chelsea.

Chelsea splashed out an initial fee of €40m in February to land the 27-year-old Moroccan winger from Ajax.

Ziyech became an integral member of Ajax's squad as he won the Dutch league title and the KNVB Cup during his four years at the club.

And the Morocco international insisted to him that the most important thing to him is playing football and was left in awe at how Lampard spoke about the sport.

"We spoke on the phone," Ziyech said. "The way he [Lampard] was speaking about the game impressed me.

"For me, also the most important thing was playing football. At that point, he was just speaking about football and about his idea of the game. It was clear for me."

Ziyech went on to say that it was a "really proud moment" when he left Ajax to sign for Chelsea and have the opportunity to play in the Premier League.

The former Ajax star continued: "I could not be any prouder [when he signed for Chelsea]. When you grow up, you always have a dream.

"For every young footballer, you want to play in the Premier League or in big competitions. For me, it was a really proud moment to sign for Chelsea."

Ziyech made his Premier League debut for Chelsea during the Blues' 3-3 draw against Southampton at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

And the Chelsea new boy also came off the bench for Chelsea's 0-0 draw against Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Speaking on Ziyech's Chelsea league debut, Lampard said: "It's hard, it's hard because we are trying to find minutes for him.

"He's not ready to start a game yet, he's pretty open about that in how he feels. But with Premier League games it's hard to make those sorts of judgments going into a game.

"He came on for his 20 minutes or so and think he showed his moments of class and calmness on the ball which you are going to see more of.

"But it's unfortunate for us he comes on and obviously unfortunate for us he comes on and we don't win the game."

Featured Image Credit: Chelsea/PA

Topics: Frank Lampard, Football News, Hakim Ziyech, Chelsea, Football, Premier League, Blues

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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