{"id":8870,"date":"2022-02-08T15:09:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T20:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/02\/08\/chelseas-hakim-ziyech-to-end-moroccan-service-after-afcon-snug\/"},"modified":"2022-02-08T15:09:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T20:09:21","slug":"chelseas-hakim-ziyech-to-end-moroccan-service-after-afcon-snug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/02\/08\/chelseas-hakim-ziyech-to-end-moroccan-service-after-afcon-snug\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea&rsquo;s Hakim Ziyech to end Moroccan service after AFCON snug"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The realities of international football have come home to roost through frustration for star Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech after disappointment this window has led the Moroccan to make a critical and career-defining decision.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.football.london\/chelsea-fc\/news\/hakim-ziyech-chelsea-announcement-decision-23029409\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">As reported by Football.London<\/a> among various other outlets, Ziyech announced that he will no longer be available for selection for his country after being omitted from the squad by head coach Valid Halihodzic and failing to represent his country at AFCON2021.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hakim Ziyech makes shock major decision on future with strong Chelsea announcement ??<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gGHwvaeHRc\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/gGHwvaeHRc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chelsea FC News (@Chelsea_FL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chelsea_FL\/status\/1491107056195018752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Despite the Atlas Lion\u2019s making a beeline for the semi-finals before losing out to Mohamed Salah\u2019s Egypt and hardly missing Ziyech on account of their overall performance at the mid-season continental showcase, the Chelsea midfielder remains firm in his stance after his public war of words with Halihodzic and has now taken matters one step further.<\/p>\n<p>Ziyech has not featured for his country since June 2021 and though he understood the position he is faced with, still chose to rule himself out for future consideration when making his decision final: \u201cObviously I understand them but I will not return to the national team. It\u2019s my final decision and it\u2019s all clear for me how things are going over there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know it\u2019s all clear for me and I am focusing on what I am doing and that\u2019s right now my club. At the end of the day, it\u2019s a decision he makes and you have to respect it but if all the lines come with it, it\u2019s for me clear and like I said before, I will not return to the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Ziyech to remain focused on Chelsea with an improved rate of return<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most talked-about transfer stories last season, Hakim Ziyech has hardly hit the level that many expected from the former Ajax Amsterdam star to rise to once he completed his move to Stamford Bridge, but perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel for the 28-year-old Dronten native.<\/p>\n<p>Across 39-appearances last term the midfielder managed just 6-goals and 4-assists; total contribution figures far below what he proved capable of in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1131681\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1131681\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1131681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-1185733021-1024x652.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech calls time on his international service in the wake of AFCON omission\" width=\"1024\" height=\"652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-1185733021.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-1185733021-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-1185733021-768x489.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-1185733021-910x579.jpg 910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1131681\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LONDON, ENGLAND \u2013 NOVEMBER 05: Quincy Promes of AFC Ajax celebrates with Hakim Ziyech after scoring his team\u2019s first goal during the UEFA Champions League group H match between Chelsea FC and AFC Ajax at Stamford Bridge on November 05, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But thus far this season, he has already shown an uptick in return while hitting the same return (10-total contributions) but in fourteen fewer matches.<\/p>\n<p>Given the struggles of a host of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/news\/revealed-how-much-niklas-sule-demanded-from-chelsea-ahead-of-dortmund-switch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chelsea<\/a> attacking players, if Ziyech can hit a decent patch of form, he may start to finally repay the club on the pitch just as the Blues need an attacking spark as they have sunk ten points off table-topping Manchester City while winning just two of their last six in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The realities of international football have come home to roost through frustration for star Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech after disappointment this window has led the Moroccan to make a critical and career-defining decision. As reported by Football.London among various other outlets, Ziyech announced that he will no longer be available for selection for his country [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-8870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-soccer","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}