Hakim Ziyech trains at Chelsea for first time following £37.8m Ajax transfer

Hakim Ziyech has trained at Chelsea for the first time since his £37.8million transfer from Ajax.

With Frank Lampard's side in action against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday, Ziyech joined some of his team-mates at their Cobham base for a light session.

The 27-year-old officially became a Chelsea player on July 1 having agreed a deal back in February, but will not be able to feature until the start of the 2020-21 season.

The focus for Lampard and Ziyech is therefore to get the winger familiar with the squad and to boost his fitness levels having not played a game since March due to the Eredivisie season being prematurely brought to a halt.

Fellow new addition Timo Werner - who completed a £53m transfer in June - has not yet joined the Chelsea squad with the Bundesliga finishing just two weeks ago.

The signings of Werner and Ziyech are an early statement by Lampard and Chelsea, who will try to close the gap between themselves and both Manchester City and Liverpool ahead of next season.

First, however, they will look to secure a Champions League berth for 2020-21.

A spot in Europe's most coveted club tournament is in their hands, though the Blues trailed 2-0 at half-time against Sheffield United.

Christian Pulisic - who has been in fine form since the restart - will face increased competition next season following the arrivals of both Ziyech and Werner.

But he insisted he is excited to work with the pair.

"I’m excited to work with them," he told Sky Sports. "It’s fun to play with good players, it’s easy to play with them and those are two guys we know that are really talented guys so I’m really looking forward to it.

"We can have a really strong team next season. I think there’s still work that needs to be done [to catch Liverpool and Man City]."

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