Ten minutes into the first leg of Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League semi-final against Arsenal and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is in the left-back position. He is covering for Nuno Mendes, who has scampered forward. But it is Kvaratskhelia being reprimanded.
Fabian Ruiz is urging him to push on, making it clear that he can handle it. At the next break in play, Luis Enrique issues further instructions. It is a small moment but indicative of something more. This is a different type of star. This is a different PSG.
It is not so long ago that Luis Enrique could be seen pleading with Kylian Mbappe in a desperate attempt to persuade the player to do anything resembling defensive duties. Now, in Kvaratskhelia, they have a €70m (£59.5m) signing who might be doing too much.
The Georgia international did enough at the other end of the pitch in London to help put his side in control of the tie. It was his assist that allowed Ousmane Dembele to score the opening goal inside four minutes. Jurrien Timber struggled to control Kvaratskhelia.
The Arsenal full-back had kept Vinicius Junior quiet throughout the quarter-final but resorted to fouling the PSG winger three times in an opening 20 minutes in which PSG demonstrated why many experts now regard them as the outstanding team in Europe.
Timber was hooked late in the game but by then Kvaratskhelia was leaning into his defensive responsibilities, protecting Mendes by doubling up on Bukayo Saka. He won the ball off Martin Odegaard in the corner and did the same with Saka moments later.
Ethan Nwaneri came on. Kvaratskhelia dispossessed him too, dropping to his knees at full-time. Luis Enrique said his side were better without the ball than with it. Amazingly, it was his winger who won possession of the ball more than anyone else on the pitch.
A superstar who works
David Webb works closely with Kvaratskhelia as an assistant coach with the Georgia national team. To him, all this is no surprise. “It is said that some superstar players do not display this work ethic but that is not the case with Kvara,” he tells Sky Sports.
“National team camps are very quiet, condensed and short so we do not have the luxury of having them for long periods of time. But what he still does do, once a training session is finished, is his extras. We do not ask him to. He does it of his own accord.
“That is practising free-kicks, shooting, one against ones, nothing spectacular, just honing the basics of his craft. When you look at the top players, they do this regularly, and it is not something he does for effect. He has done it since day one.
“He is a nightmare to get off the training pitch because he is very process-driven. He wants to score so many goals, he wants to have so many touches, and he believes that doing that one or two per cent gives him that little bit more when it comes to a game.”
Luis Enrique loves that but it is his flexibility that makes him perfect for PSG. Half an hour into the tie against Arsenal, Kvaratskhelia switched from the left wing to the right. There was a brief spell during which Dembele went to the left and he filled in up front.
“It is fluid because they do not have a fixed No 9 so he has freedom to move between the lines, pick the ball up in different areas,” says Webb. “He is very dangerous when he has the opportunity to roam and express himself. It makes him difficult to predict.”
Unique winger in modern game
Webb also talks of Kvaratskhelia having “something different” and that is a recurring theme in the analysis of a player who has taken an unusual route to the top. Mbappe was a World Cup winner as a teenager. Kvaratskhelia was back playing in Georgia at 21.
A product of Dinamo Tbilisi’s impressive academy, it would be wrong to claim that he was not identified as a special talent at a young age but the theory goes that enough of the rough edges remain in his game to make him a unique figure in elite football.
There were still hints of that maverick quality to his game in London. With a quarter of an hour to go, he attempted a 40-yard lob of David Raya that few would have spotted let alone attempted. “People have described him as a throwback, haven’t they?”
Webb recalls a conversation with Gareth Southgate at Euro 2024. “He was saying that he is like a throwback but with that extra bit of quality. We do not see old-fashioned wingers like that anymore. We have had stuff about Chris Waddle and George Best.”
There is that flair to Kvaratskhelia but if these comparisons conjure images of an off-the-cuff type, a deeper look at what makes him so good suggests something else. “What really impresses me is his character, humility and drive to reach the top,” adds Webb.
“He is always probing and asking questions and thinking how can he get the edge on his own performance. If we are presenting a tactical meeting on upcoming opponents, he will ask thoughtful questions. On the training pitch, he will ask about game scenarios.
“There are not many players who come up to us and do that but he is an intelligent boy so he thinks about who he is playing against so he can go in prepared physically and tactically. He knows their strengths and weaknesses and where he might exploit them.”
It helps to explain why, at 24, Kvaratskhelia is continuing to improve. The level was high already. It is two years ago now that he helped Napoli win the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years. But Webb is among those to have witnessed an evolution in his game.
“His movement patterns have got a lot better. I think he has gained that intelligence of knowing when to make his runs, when to dribble, when to pass and when to cross. I have noticed that has gone up. Because he is so intelligent, he picks things up quickly.
“Antonio Conte was good for him because he obviously had to work a lot off the ball and we are seeing that more with the national team too. Not that he did not work before, but there is more intensity about him. I think his game is going to go to a different level.”
‘Top five in the world’
There are many players in this PSG team who might be said to be a symbol of the side. There is the long-serving Marquinhos at the back, while Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue represent the pivot towards restoring that French connection.
But in his own way, Kvaratskhelia, an outsider and a newcomer, might best epitomise the shift. With his socks around his ankles, his status as a star from the Italian game, and his considerable transfer fee, he could be mistaken for a mere flashy acquisition.
Instead, he can help define how Luis Enrique has turned this team into a team – one with rare speed and even rarer quality but a group of players willing to work too. “That drive will certainly hold him in good stead over the next few years,” concludes Webb.
“I think he could potentially go on and be one of the top five in the world. For me, he will definitely be a Champions League winner within the next two or three years.” If the extraordinary Khvicha Kvaratskhelia keeps this up, he will not have to wait that long.
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