Leaving Chelsea to join the Saudi Arabian Pro League- all the cool kids are doing it these days. Central defender Kalidou Koulibaly and winger Hakim Ziyech are up next, finalizing their transfer deals to clubs in the Arabian peninsula.
They join the likes of N’Golo Kante, who moved on a free to Al-Ittihad and Edouard Mendy, who will be joining Al-Ahli for £22m. Chelsea will be receiving £8m from Al-Nassr for Ziyech while Al-Hilal will be paying £17m for Koulibaly.
Documents are being prepared for both Kalidou Koulibaly to Al Hilal and Edou Mendy to Al Ahli. Their agent Ramadani is working on it in London. Chelsea could get around €40m fee for both. ??? #CFC
Hakim Ziyech to Al Nassr, being checked and signed soon too. pic.twitter.com/Ln1tkWXk1o
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 21, 2023
2023 Chelsea FC Summer Transfer Window
In
Christopher Nkunku, RB Leipzig (deal done last fall)
Kendry Paez, Independiente del Valle (come over when he turns 18)
Nicolas Jackson, Villarreal (pending physical)
Out
Mateo Kovacic, Manchester City
Koulibaly, 32, moves over after just one season. He joined Chelsea from Napoli only last summer. Here is a link to more on the Senegal international signing a three year deal with his new club. In his prime, he was one of the better center backs in the game, but now he is clearly on the down side of his career.
It is more than safe to say that his very short tenure at Chelsea was a flop.
Ditto for Ziyech, who was a major contributor for Morocco at their surprisingly glorious World Cup showing, but couldn’t get into the team consistently at Chelsea.
Big things were expected when he moved over from Ajax a few years ago but it never came to fruition.
He has the same problem as Christian Pulisic- an overcrowded position group. Pulisic will be leaving Chelsea as well, but no one knows where he’s going yet. Callum Hudson-Odoi, another out of favor winger/attacking midfielder, will exit as well.
There are offers from Saudi Arabia for him too.
As for Mendy, he lost his place to Kepa this past season, so he had to move on. None of these players fit in at Chelsea, under their multitude of managers, this past season. They were not going to fit in under Maurico Pochettino either.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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