Hakim Ziyech: A True (Transfer) Crime Story

Image: Olaf Kraak, AFP


By: Kees van Hemmen

By now, most football fans know who Hakim Ziyech is. Last season, Ziyech and his team, AFC Ajax, made an incredibly improbable run to the Champions League semi-final, beating the reigning champions and arguably the best player in the world on their way to a heart-breaking loss to Tottenham Hotspur. It’s a story that everyone in the football world knows, and it brought Ajax, its players, and the Dutch Eredivisie onto the international stage for the first time in more than twenty years. Every player in the side was rumored to be making a major move to one of Europe’s top clubs over the summer, and some of them did. But I can’t seem to shake the feeling that Ziyech was overlooked. Generally linked with moves to teams only as a potential backup, his true quality didn’t seem to be appreciated. Hakim Ziyech should be starting for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Here’s why...

Ziyech has had double digit assists in the Eredivisie in six consecutive seasons, including this year where he's had twelve assists through sixteen matches and twenty (20!) in all competitions. Not only that, but his 0.39 expected assists per 90 minutes puts him at the top of the Eredivisie. That total would put him behind only Kevin De Bruyne in the Premier League in expected assists. And that is giving De Bruyne a set-piece advantage: Ziyech’s Eredivisie numbers exclude his set-piece deliveries, but De Bruyne’s Premier League numbers include them. Keeping in mind that the Eredivisie is a significantly more attack-friendly environment, and generally lower-quality league, this is still incredibly impressive.

Speaking of De Bruyne, the Belgian midfielder has received quite a bit of attention for the effectiveness of his unique crossing style lately. And this is fair, as you can see below, the so called “De Bruyne cross” is the stuff legends are made of:






What a lot of people don’t realize is, De Bruyne actually isn’t the only person who can do this. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the Ziyech cross:








The trajectory on these crosses is just as physics-defying as anything De Bruyne has done during his time in the Premier League. And a box cross percentage of only 11%, as per StatsBomb, shows that Ziyech isn’t just hocking balls into the box, either. He’s selective and at the same time lethally effective. Not only that, but the fact that his delivery is generally in-swinging (being a lefty on the right wing) actually gives him an even greater advantage:



It is unclear whether Ziyech is shooting or attempting to play a ball for his teammates here, but the result is all that matters: an extremely dangerous shot/cross that ultimately results in a goal. The clip also shows another side of his creative game: Ziyech has fantastic delivery from set pieces.





Ziyech’s set piece contributions are not limited to deliveries either. He has significant goal threat from set pieces, and shooting from distance in general. Taking more than 5.2 shots per game in the Eredivisie, Ziyech may not be particularly selective about where he takes them from, but boy can he hit them.












All these shots ultimately mean goal output: Ziyech is averaging 0.38 expected goals per 90 minutes in the Eredivisie, as per StatsBomb, along with 7 total goals in all competitions. Both are near-elite for wingers at this stage in the season. What this amounts to is a player who’s putting up outstanding creation numbers and at the same time generating standout goalscoring numbers from the wing. And this still doesn’t tell us the whole story. Ziyech is one of the best long passers in football, and the number of pacey forwards Ajax has makes him an even deadlier asset.









Ziyech’s passing and volume shooting is certainly what makes him elite, but he’s no slouch when it comes to dribbling either. 3.02 successful dribbles per 90 minutes in the league this season is nothing to sneeze at, as it is well above average for his position. For all the De Bruyne-esque passes he has played, he’s got some runs with the ball that would make even Adama Traoré blush.





Even doing all of this creative work, Ziyech still puts in a shift defensively. For his position, 3.8 pressure regains per 90 minutes is solid output, and indicative of the high press that Ajax likes to play. This makes him an ideal attacking piece for practically any big side, as he can break open a low block and press off the ball. This is not to say he doesn’t have flaws. He shoots from distance more often than you’d like, and he turns over the ball at a blinding pace, but neither of these things are big enough issues in the right system to discourage a multi-million Euro move. Transfermarkt currently has him valued a little over 51 million. Given what relatively unproven commodities like João Félix and Ousmane Dembélé have gone for in recent years, a fair price would likely be twice that.

Now, the obvious counterargument to all of this is “it’s just the Dutch league”, “players from the Eredivisie flop all the time”, and, of course, the dreaded “it's a farmer’s league”. There are a few problems with this argument. First, the Eredivisie may have produced some flops, but for every flop there is a success story, and Hakim Ziyech is as close to a sure thing coming out of the Netherlands as anyone since Dennis Bergkamp given his age and track record. For every Vincent Janssen there has been a Christian Eriksen, and for every Memphis Depay at Manchester United, there has been a Memphis Depay at Lyon. Secondly, the point about Hakim Ziyech is not so much a point about the Eredivisie’s quality as it is a point about the quality of the players around him at Ajax. Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong both saw 60+ million Euro transfers this summer to two of the biggest clubs in Europe. Granted, they are younger, but Hakim has more than three times as big a sample size, and has been excellent for the length of it. Many people forget that less than two years ago Frenkie de Jong was considered too weak and risk-prone to play in defensive midfield, and that Matthijs de Ligt put together a disaster-class upon his international debut. Hakim has had no such displays, yet the best transfer buzz he gets is rumors of a “bargain bin move to Anfield” to be Mohamed Salah’s backup. If these other players can get their moves, he should as well. The final, and perhaps most important point, is that Hakim has done it at the highest level in the Champions League. In the group stage this season he was undoubtedly Ajax’s standout player, and last season he was equally excellent throughout the side’s run to the semi final. Hakim Ziyech, on quality alone, should walk into any side in the world. It's past time people saw that.


Sources:

https://twitter.com/StatsBomb

https://www.transfermarkt.us/hakim-ziyech/profil/spieler/217111

https://fbref.com/en/players/6622454d/Hakim-Ziyech

https://understat.com/league/EPL