Hakim Ziyech agrees personal terms with Al Nassr — report

Hakim Ziyech looks to be among the handful of Chelsea players making the move to the Saudi Pro League this summer, taking advantage of the league’s generous offers and intention to quickly build up their star-power on the world stage.

According to Ben Jacobs, Ziyech has now agreed personal terms with Al Nassr, who made Cristiano Ronaldo the highest paid footballer ever in January. Ziyech presumably will not be getting quite as much, but certainly won’t be hurting either — enough to make up for the collapsed PSG move in the last transfer window I’m sure.

Negotiations are still ongoing with Chelsea over a fee, but that doesn’t like it will be a problem. A report from the Telegraph expects Chelsea to receive “upwards of £50m” all told from the various transfers we might engineer with the SPL, including Ziyech, Édouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibably, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That’s a fairly reasonable amount that should dissuade any real notions of collusion between Chelsea’s owners and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, who are bankrolling the league’s operations and big-money transfer business.