He was courted by European champion Chelsea, he chose Paris Saint-Germain.
In an interview with the Team, Achraf Hakimi spoke about his career and looks back on his first steps in the club in the capital.
The full-back is establishing himself as one of the club's best summer recruits.
Last Wednesday, in Metz, he signed a decisive double, giving victory to his team in the very last minutes.
Hakimi explodes with joy.
In Paris it flourishes.
“I had the intuition that I had to come to Paris, that I was going to be happy there.
PSG are a great club and I appreciated how much the people here seemed to love and desire me.
And I was lucky that my arrival was accompanied by great transfers.
I am already sure that I was not mistaken, ”marvels the native of Madrid.
The most obvious bond was forged with Mbappé.
The two super-fast players, "have not yet run against each other," laughs Hakimi.
Both were born in the same year, in 1998, and share a friendship that "makes us better and helps us to be complementary on the pitch," says the Serie A champion with Inter.
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Building a technical relationship with Messi, “it's easy!
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Achraf Hakimi is used to evolving alongside big names.
He notably rubbed shoulders with Ronaldo at Real.
“The only one I missed was Messi!
(...) Building a technical relationship with him is easy!
I give him the ball, I run and he will put it where it belongs!
His way of behaving surprised me, he is simple, quiet, ”concedes the Moroccan international who started football in his neighborhood of Getafe, south of Madrid.
“The neighborhood gives you the intelligence to play, a little spark, something that pushes you to be as fast as possible. You have to think fast, be the smartest, the fastest, because in neighborhood football, everyone wants the ball, ”he says. Even at Real Madrid, where Achraf Hakimi joined at the age of seven, he says he has kept this way of thinking, of playing. He keeps a particular attachment to the club of his childhood, the one that “took him out of the neighborhood, learned the values of football, built as a man, too. "
At 22, soon 23, the side will already be able to bring his experience in the Champions League, which he won in 2018 with the Merengues.
"People sometimes think when seeing a workforce with big names that that's enough but no, you need the involvement of each player, a team where we all attack together and where we all defend together", assures the Moroccan who believes hard as big-eared cut iron with the PSG.