Chelsea bound Hakim Ziyech has won Ajax’s Player of the Year for the third time consecutively. Ziyech has been phenomenal for Ajax over the years and has been rewarded for his performances. Sergino Dest won the talent of the year.
After each official game, Ajax fans vote for the Man of the Match and the three players with the most votes get 1,3 and 5 points. This year the top four was:
- Hakim Ziyech – 57 points
- Donny van de Beek – 46 points
- Martinez – 40
- Daley Blind – 40
Ziyech is the first-ever player to win the Ajax Player of the Year award three times. The prize was first awarded in 1993 and since then Jari Litamanen, Cristian Chivu, Luis Suarez, Maarten Stekelenburg and Jasper Cillessen have won it twice.
However, there are multiple reasons as to why only Ziyech has been able to win it thrice. But their best players leaving is probably the biggest reason. For e.g. Luis Suarez would have won the third one if he had stayed for another season at Ajax. A lot of players left Ajax soon after winning the Ajax POTY. Had the award existed earlier, Dutch legends like Cruyff, Van Basten and Bergkamp would have won it more than three times as well. Adding to that, it was really hard for players to win it in the 1990s as there was a lot of competition back then.
As the Eredivisie is over, Ziyech is set to join Chelsea next season. He is exactly the missing pieces the Blues needed to unlock defences this season.
