The legendary Ajax has symbolized a car gift for his teammate, and his wife is…
The dynamic midfielder will join the Blues from Ajax for a fee of £37 million, which is reasonable considering today’s market.
Alongside Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong, he burst onto the scene for the Dutch champions during their thrilling run to the Champions League semifinal last season.
Prior to everything else, though, as a small child, he had to get over the devastating loss of his father.
Ziyech, 26, lost his father to a chronic illness when he was only ten years old.
After quitting school at the age of sixteen, he made it his goal to support his family by becoming a professional football player.
ZIYech, ONE OF EIGHT, was born in the tranquil Dutch town of Dronten, which has 40,000 residents.
His mother is Moroccan, and his father was Dutch. He was the youngest of eight children.
Ziyech started playing football with his brothers late at night when he was five years old.
He became a member of the local clubs ASV Dronten and SV REEAL Dronten when his love for the game started to consume him.
But after battling a disease for the majority of Ziyech’s childhood, his father’s death in 2003 completely upended his world.
At the age of 14, Ziyech signed with Heerenveen, still reeling from the trauma of his father’s death from a life-threatening illness.
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At the age of 14, Ziyech signed with Heerenveen, still reeling from the trauma of his father’s death from a life-threatening illness.Thanks to SC Heerenveen.
His mother was left to pick up the pieces and support the family on benefits, so he played truant in school, which soon had an impact on his emotional state.
By the time he was 14 years old, Ziyech’s only goal in life was to play professional football.
2008 saw him land his big break when he joined SC Heerenveen, but still traumatized by his father’s death, he got himself into problems there.
Ziyech was usually abrasive with his teammates and coaches, and despite his talent, he was seen as the troublemaker.
Soon after, Ziyech made his breakthrough into the Heerenveen first team, assisted by coach Aziz Doufikar, the first Moroccan player to play in Holland.
After dropping out of school at age 16, he became the father figure Ziyech had always wanted, directing his career forward.
