Chelsea winger held talks with Serie A side during January window

Chelsea will be hoping to avoid another disappointing result when they travel across London to face West Ham United on Saturday afternoon. 

The Blues have already lost seven Premier League matches so far this season and currently find themselves in ninth-place in the table, below the likes of Brentford, Brighton and Fulham.

Graham Potter’s side have drawn their last two matches 0-0, much to the frustration of the club’s supporters who had been encouraged by the influx of new signings at Stamford Bridge last month.

A total of seven players arrived at the club last month, including Enzo Fernandez, Joao Felix and Mykhaylo Mudryk.

Despite so many new players arriving, only Jorginho departed the club, although it now appears that another Blues star was in talks to leave.

As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Italian side Roma’s director Tiago Pinto has revealed that the club were in talks to sign Hakim Ziyech during the January window.

“Hakim Ziyech was one of our targets, we had talks with his agents and Chelsea but the deal collapsed,” he is quoted as saying.

Ziyech was in talks with Roma over a move to the Serie A side

Roma, who are managed by former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, appear to have been one of a number of clubs interested in signing Ziyech.

The ex-Ajax man was said to have been close to joining French side Paris Saint-Germain on deadline day, with head coach Christophe Galtier claiming that the Premier League side had failed to provide the correct documentation in time to complete a deal, as per Sky Sports.

The Morocco international has struggled for game time ever since arriving in London back in 2020.

During his two-and-a-half seasons with Chelsea, the Moroccan has made 99 appearances, scoring just 14 goals and providing 11 assists.

This term, the 29-year-old has failed to score a single goal in 16 appearances across all competitions, registering a single assist in The Blues’ narrow 1-0 win over Crystal Palace last month.

Ziyech, who was already struggling to maintain a regular starting spot for Graham Potter’s side, is likely to see his playing time reduced further following the arrivals of Mudryk, Felix and Noni Madueke last month.

Raheem Sterling also joined the club last summer, while Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount provide further options in the wide areas.