Chelsea star's Saudi move on verge of COLLAPSE

James Shearman

• Updated: 4 Jul 2023 15:45 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech's move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr is now in doubt.

According to FootMercato, Ziyech has failed his medical as a result of a knee problem.

The extent of the issue is unknown, but the reports are that Al-Nassr could decide to pull out of the deal.

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The Riyadh-based club are also on the verge of signing Marcelo Brozovic from Inter.

Their aim is to build a team around star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined from Manchester United in January, that can win the title next season.

Ziyech's creativity would have gone a long way to fulfil that ambition but the club may now need to look elsewhere.

What about Chelsea?

Chelsea have already let N'Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly leave to Saudi Arabian teams in this window.

And Ziyech was supposed to be next, as the Blues look to cut their squad size down ahead of the new season.

The club's hierarchy realise that giving a manager more than 30 players to work with is not an ideal situation.

Not only that but the west London club have saved a fortune as a result of the emergence of the Saudi Pro League.

The aforementioned players were on huge wages at Stamford Bridge, which have now been freed up.

While the sales of Mendy and Koulibaly also brought in transfer fees that European clubs were not willing to offer.

Ziyech, too, was supposed to bring in a fee of £17 million, which Chelsea will be hoping they still receive.

The Morocco international also missed out on a move to Paris Saint-Germain in January.