After their Champions League exploits last season, there was something of a fire sale at Ajax this summer.
The big clubs came calling for their best players, with Juventus taking Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong joining Barcelona.
One man who didn’t get a move, despite playing a significant role in everything that Ajax achieved was Hakim Ziyech. It seems there was one on the table, though, from Everton.
The Blues were linked with the forward on several occasions during the summer as Marcel Brands tried to add quality to Everton’s forward line.
No move ever came about though, with the more serious rumours suggesting they were keen on teammate David Neres.
According to Chelsea scout Piet de Visser, however, there was a contract on the table for Ziyech to move to Goodison Park, but he decided to sign a new one at Ajax instead.
“Now Ajax has been able to keep a good core. Overmars did that well,” he told De Volkskrant.
“Ziyech has signed again. Then why would he go to Everton for four million? It is also nice for the whole of the Netherlands that Ajax has kept its good players.
“Everyone was in the lead last season at the Champions League, and this season again.
“Of course you have people who are jealous, that it is an exaggeration and a shame. So what? They have never had so much money in the bank.”
It’s not made clear what that €4m would have been for, although it was presumably in wages as there is little chance Ziyech would have been moving for such a low transfer fee.
The scout doesn’t mention a transfer fee, or why Ziyech turned down the move, but given Everton spent some of the summer trying to get a winger, eventually settling on Alex Iwobi, the rumour makes plenty of sense.
