Achraf Hakimi was just one of the big signings made by Paris Saint Germain this summer, as the French side managed to reach an agreement to sign him from Inter Milan in a €60m deal.
The right-back was a starter in all of the club’s six matches this season, with manager Mauricio Pochettino clearly happy about the 22-year-old’s addition to the squad.
When speaking to UEFA about PSG’s transfer market this season, the coach revealed that he could have had Hakimi years before, back during his time in charge of Tottenham Hotspur.
According to Pochettino, Spurs were one of the clubs who watched the player’s potential from his early days, even though they were never able to get him to London.
“Achraf is a young player [I have] been following since [I was] at Tottenham,” said Pochettino.
“We were on the edge of signing him for Tottenham, but then he went to play for Dortmund. He has a great capacity to run, his physical potential is huge. He is young, he’s maturing at the defensive level, but he makes a lot of contributions in attack.”
By talking about ‘when he went to play for Dortmund’, Pochettino refers to Hakimi’s loan spell from Real Madrid. The fullback spent two years, between 2018 and 2020, at the German side.
Following his return to the Santiago Bernabeu, the player was immediately sold to Inter Milan in a €43m deal. He only lasted one year in Italy and ended up completing this move to PSG this summer.
Certainly one that got away for Tottenham.
