Hakim Ziyech warned to hit the gym ahead of Chelsea transfer by former team-mate due to physicality of Premier League

HAKIM Ziyech's former Aja teammate Anwar El Ghazi has backed the Moroccan to thrive at Chelsea - but has warned he'll need to toughen up for the Premier League.

The Blues shelled out around £37million to sign Ziyech up for next season.

And while Aston Villa star El Ghazi believes that his talented former co-star will hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge, he has urged him to prepare for the "wall" of Premier League defences that he is about to go up against.

He told : "You have to think about your muscles with so many games.

“I thought I was big and heavy, but sometimes you run into player and you think, is that a wall? But Ziyech is going to do well at Chelsea, 100 per cent.”

With Ziyech possessing a slight build, El Ghazi, 25, has previously told his talented counterpart to "hit the gym".

He’s agile and can move well, because he’s so thin.

Anwar El Ghazi on Hakim Ziyech

But the winger has insisted that he was just kidding: "It was a joke anyway.

“Ziyech has his qualities and he shouldn’t have to be physical. He’s agile and can move well, because he’s so thin.

“Going to the gym doesn’t mean going to Basic Fit [Dutch gym chain] to become a powerhouse.

“You can also work your core, train your abs, pull ups. It doesn’t make you a bodybuilder. Being in the gym doesn’t just mean pumping and pumping.”

With so many rising stars already at Stamford Bridge, Ziyech will offer boss Frank Lampard a different kind of option - as a 27-year-old already at the peak of his powers.

He shot to prominence in Ajax's run to last season's Champions League semi-finals, scoring against the likes of Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur along the way.

And with the departures of Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt last summer, Ziyech again stepped up in the 2019-20 season, scoring eight goals and providing 21 assists before the Dutch campaign was KO'd by Covid-19.

Chelsea's summer of spending is unlikely to end there, however, with the announcement of Timo Werner believed to be imminent - and stars Kai Havertz and Ben Chilwell also being strongly linked.