It’s always a strange one when a player agrees to join another team outwith a transfer window, because the fans will always feel a bit uneasy about having them in the side.
There’s a feeling that their heart might not be in it while they may also hold back in case they injure themselves, and the media will always pounce on a poor performance.
Football.London looked at the agreement which will take Ajax star Hakim Ziyech to Chelsea this Summer, but it seems that Gus Poyet is a bit confused at the timing of the deal.
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It’s not to say that he doesn’t think he will be a good player, but the former Chelsea great doesn’t seem to agree with the way the deal was done:
“I didn’t understand – and I’m not criticising anyone – why Chelsea, after all that went on in the summer, not being able to sign players, get to January with the possibility of signing players, they didn’t, and then three days later, four days later, they announce they sign a player for next year,”
“It’s not normal, okay. I’m not saying it’s bad, but I lost it a little bit because you complain a lot about not being able to buy, then you have the chance to buy and you don’t, and then when the transfer window is closed you announce that you bought one.”
While he may have a point, it’s possible that Ajax didn’t want to lose him January so there was no chance of signing him in that window, and that meant there was no great hurry to conclude negotiations.
The deal has now been agreed and he will be a Chelsea player regardless of Poyet’s thoughts, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in the Premier League.