Frank Lampard explains how two Champions League runs made him want Ziyech

It’s been a Hakim Ziyech frenzy on the Chelsea internet recently since it was announced that the Morocco star was coming to join the Blues this summer.

That’s continued today, with an interview with Frank Lampard now live on the Chelsea official website where he explains exactly what he’s hoping his new signing can bring to the team.

“I know his qualities,” said Lampard of the Ajax star who will move for €45m this summer.

“He’s a player we hope can bring creativity. He first came to my attention watching him play in Ajax’s Champions League run last year and I thought he was one of their standout players, particularly in the games against Tottenham.”

Lampard has mentioned the lack of creativity in his side before, and addressing that was clearly a priority for him. As well as watching him last year in the Dutch side’s impressive Champions League campaign, Chelsea fans and the manager got to watch the tricky attacker play twice against us too, in this year’s edition:

“This season, we’ve come up against him twice [in the Champions League] so I know a lot about him… When you look at us this season, there have been games where we’ve maybe struggled to unlock the door and he’s certainly a player who we hope can bring that bit of creativity.”

Certainly our home games have seen the team able to play high up the pitch and pin the opposition back, but without finding the killer pass to break the lines and set up a scoring chance.

This move is clearly meant to address that weakness, and we hope it will do just that. We will still need to add more pieces around him through the summer, but this is a very promising start.

Tags Champions League
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