Chelsea have reached an agreement to sign Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech, according to reports.
After failing to sign any player in the January window, the 26-year-old is reportedly top of Frank Lampard’s shortlist ahead of the summer window.
And according to De Telegraaf, Chelsea have a verbal agreement in place with Dutch champions Ajax to sign Ziyech at the end of the campaign.
The report claims that advanced negotiations have taken place in the last 24 hours for the Ajax star and Chelsea have already agreed to pay a €45 million for the Morocco international.
Ziyech has been a very important figure at Ajax over the past two years with 29 goals and 45 assists in 78 matches.
The midfielder helped Ajax win the Eredivisie and the Dutch Cup last season and was also instrumental in helping the club reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
This season, Ziyech has played against Chelsea twice in the Champions League and made three assists in the 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Ajax are used to selling their best players and it was always likely that Hakim Ziyech would leave in the summer.
Chelsea would have preferred to sign him in January but Ajax wanted to keep him until the summer. They are top of the league and still in the Dutch Cup as well as the UEFA Europa League.
Chelsea have been on the lookout for wide players because Pedro and Willian are out of contract in the summer.
However, Do not rule out Jadon Sancho also moving to Chelsea from Dortmund in the summer. Lampard has up to £150m to spend but teams such as Liverpool and Manchester United are also interested in Sancho.
It will now be interesting to see if Chelsea will make a move for Ajax goalie Andre Onana. He wants to move to the Premier League and there are question marks over Kepa’s future at the club.
