With Coronovirus having brought about an end to football, indeed sport in general, for the foreseeable future, clubs around Europe are now scrambling to work out very complicated logistics.
Euro 2020 has already been delayed to help domestic leagues finish at some point this summer, although a delayed end to the season is already causing plenty of problems.
For example, if seasons end after June 30th, what happens to contracts? Players will have legally swapped clubs or become free agents as of July 1st, so what do they do? This is a problem facing Ajax and Chelsea.
The two clubs agreed on a deal for forward Hakim Ziyech earlier in the season, with him officially set to become a Chelsea player on July 1st.
As Voetbal Primeur explain, though, that is now looking like being an issue as it looks unlikely that the Eredivisie will finish before the current June 30th deadline UEFA are hoping every league can meet.
If it doesn’t, Ziyech, a key player for Ajax, will be unavailable as he officially becomes a Chelsea player on July 1st.
So what does he do? Does he remain at Ajax and finish the season with them or, move to Chelsea and help them complete their Premier League campaign?
It’s an issue that will need resolving, with Ajax chief Edwin van der Saar admitting a task force is being set up to solve such matters.
“A task force will be set up, in which all the difficult matters will be covered,” he told Ajax’s Youtube channel.
“All the possibilities and options will be discussed there. If you can’t finish before June 30th, there will be an opportunity there to make certain adjustments that no one thought possible.”
