If Roman Abramovic was still at the helm of Chelsea Football Club, the prospect of Hakim Ziyech making the short, near-14 mile trip from Stamford Bridge to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would not have even been worth discussing.
Transfers between Chelsea and Spurs have been pretty much off the table for the last decade or so; the bad feeling between the two London rivals exacerbated by that Willian saga – a bone of contention still, all those years on.
In fact, Carlo Cudicini was the last player to move between the clubs all the way back in 2009. And, while Harry Kane has been linked semi-regularly with Chelsea over the years, you get the feeling that Daniel Levy would rather pull each of his teeth out with rusty tweezers than consider letting one of his key players swap white for blue.
Could Hakim Ziyech really leave Chelsea for Tottenham Hotspur?
But the Abramovic era is over. This is now Todd Boehly’s kingdom.
And, as The Athletic pointed out last year, the once-frosty relationship between Chelsea and Spurs has thawed somewhat. So much so that Chelsea would have let Olivier Giroud join Jose Mourinho at Tottenham back in 2020. The deal only collapsed after Frank Lampard failed to secure a replacement.
As such, reports suggesting that Hakim Ziyech is on the radar of a Tottenham Hotspur side who tried to the Morocco international a couple of years ago, via Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad, should not automatically be consigned to the waste paper basket.
Conte wants a right-footed left-winger to alternate with Dejan Kulusevski. Ziyech certainly fits the bill, even if he does appear to favour a return to Eredivisie champions Ajax.
Ziyech or Malinovskyi
Ruslan Malinovsyki is another on Spurs’ radar. Atalanta’s Ukrainian playmaker, like Ziyech, is a stylish, often spectacular footballer with a penchant for long-range, left-footed wondergoals.
Spurs are not his only capital city suitors, however. West Ham United have now joined the race, per TuttoAtalanta, with La Dea raising the ‘extraordinary‘ Malinovskyi’s price tag to around £25 million.
And the future of all three players may be intertwined heading into the final week of the window. If Chelsea are willing to let Ziyech become the first player in 13 years to leave Stamford Bridge for the white side of North London, then West Ham may have a clear run at Malinovskyi.
Of course, there are plenty of ‘ifs’ and even more ‘buts’ to consider. But the final week of the transfer window is a funny old time, where even the strangest things can happen.
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