Chelsea forward Hakim Ziyech has been labelled ‘stupid’ and a ‘disgrace’ for his decision to meet up with friend Quincy Promes at Spartak Moscow.
Ziyech has come in for criticism after he took the decision to fly to Russia to party alongside his friend in Moscow at an event organised by betting company Winline.
Travelling to Russia alone has been labelled a poor decision thanks to their war on Ukraine but doing so with Promes, who was recently charged with allegedly smuggling £65m worth of cocaine into the Netherlands, took it to another level according to Sander Schimmelpennink.
“Cosily visiting criminal Promes in Moscow. That you are a stupid prole who does everything for money is one thing, but this is pandering to the enemy,” Soccer News report him saying.
“Promes already never had to come to Dutch stadium again, Ziyech can also be on the list. The rot in the football world is also in the players themselves.
What happens next in the Ziyech case remains to be seen, with Chelsea sure to be unhappy with what’s gone on so far.
They know full well about the sentiment towards Russia given what happened with former owner Roman Abramovich last year, when he was forced to sell as part of the UK’s sanctions on Russian’s with close ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Those links were brought to an end by the sale to Todd Boehly and co, so being dragged back into that debate by Ziyech and his actions is unlikely to go down well with Chelsea’s hierarchy.
Schimmelpennink thinks they should have already been on the ball, though, and they and other clubs need to be doing more to control their players.
“Every big company does corporate social responsibility these days,” he added.
“The football company should do the same and oblige players to behave, pay taxes and not hang out the prole so tastelessly. The least they can do.
“And note as a Twente fan, I have cheered for Ziyech for years, perhaps the best I have ever seen at De Veste (after Ruiz). But these are not missteps. If you’re so stupid that you don’t understand that this can’t happen, that’s as bad as sympathising with the Russians.”
