Report: AC Milan readying opening bid to sign Chelsea star in World Cup quarter-finals

AC Milan readying bid to sign Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech on loan with option to buy

According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta Dello Sport (h/t Football.London), AC Milan are ready with their opening bid to sign Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech on loan with an option to buy for €15m.

Ziyech has been linked with the Serie A side for some time, with the Milan chiefs speaking to the player’s representatives back in October regarding a potential move.

A few days before the World Cup started, the 29-year-old shared his ambitions of doing well in the tournament and convincing the Rossoneri to pull the trigger on a deal to sign him.

To be honest, the winger has had an excellent World Cup for Morocco so far. He has helped them reach the quarter-final for the first time ever, where they will face Portugal on 10 December.

Ziyech has been on the fringes at Chelsea since he arrived at the club in 2020. Neither of the three managers he has played under at Stamford Bridge gave him regular game time.

With what we are seeing in Qatar and what we saw from him during his Ajax days, the talent and quality are there. It is just a shame that it did not come together for him in a Blues shirt. Things weren’t seemingly working out for him under Thomas Tuchel.

And it hasn’t worked out so far with Graham Potter. Ziyech has featured as a substitute in just three league games under the former Brighton & Hove Albion manager, and has not made the starting XI even once in the PL.

Now, it is probably right for both parties to part ways as soon as the January window opens. It would allow the player to go to a club where he is probably a guaranteed starter every week, unlike in west London.

For Chelsea, it would be an opportunity to get a fringe player out of their wage book and focus on signing an attacker who can bring goals and assists to the team. Graham Potter’s men lacked that during the first half of the season.

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• N’Golo Kante included in 25-man Chelsea squad for mid-season training
• Inter have decided to sell Dutch international Denzel Dumfries with Chelsea interested

For us to compete for a top-four finish, we need more from the forward line. Signing a high-quality Ziyech replacement would be a good start in January.