Achraf Hakimi: How Africa’s most expensive defender earned his €60m move to PSG

Achraf Hakimi’s path is an homage to the powers of adaptation. A Real Madrid academy product who remade himself across three leagues and arrived in Paris brimming with world-class potential.

His rise combined positional intelligence, relentless work-rate, and a sense for the moments that tilt matches.

By the time PSG paid around €60–68 million to bring him in, Hakimi had already proven that modern full-backs can be match-winners as well as defenders.

Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi left Madrid’s academy with a mix of technical comfort and tactical understanding beyond his years.

When he joined the Real Madrid first team, he trained among elite attackers and learned the timing of overlapping runs, the patience of defensive discipline, and the brief cruelty of top-level rotation, when opportunities were limited.

The decisive step was a two-season loan to Borussia Dortmund, where he was given licence to attack and was asked to defend in a Bundesliga filled with transition football.

That environment hardened him: his crossing, his recovery speed, and his capacity to combine with wingers all improved in measurable ways.

By the 2019–20 season, he produced double-digit assists in Germany and had transformed from a promising teenager into a reliable, end-to-end wing-back.

Inter Milan purchased Hakimi with the expectation that his Dortmund form would translate to Serie A. It did, but it was not a simple repeat of the same player; instead, the Moroccan full-back adapted to his surroundings once again.

Under Antonio Conte, the role required more positional discipline, sharper defensive reads, and the capacity to plug gaps in a compact system, and Halimi fit Inter’s needs like a glove.

Hakimi contributed key goals and assists, and his presence on the right helped Inter lift the 2020–21 Serie A title, ending a long run of dominance by their rivals Juventus.

The Italian chapter offered a different kind of schooling, one where tactical nuance matters as much as raw speed and attacking contributions, and his performances convinced bigger clubs he had the balance PSG sought.

Paris Saint-Germain acquired Hakimi in the summer of 2021 for a fee reported in the region of €60–68 million, a figure that made him the most expensive African defender ever and one of the most expensive in the world.

PSG paid a premium for a full-back who can create overloads, attack space behind defensive lines, and still shoulder defensive responsibility when possession is lost.

At a club that was aiming for continental glory, Hakimi’s blend of offensive metrics and defensive solidity filled a clear need: to add consistent width and a reliable outlet on the right.

His arrival coincided with a wider tactical shift at PSG, where faster transitions and better control of wide areas became central to the team’s plan, peaking under Luis Enrique.

Hakimi’s time at PSG matured into something in the realm of legendary as he played a key role in PSG’s long-sought European breakthrough when the club secured its first UEFA Champions League title in 2025.

In the final against Inter Milan, Halimi came back to haunt his former club, contributing decisively as PSG delivered a dominant display, winning 5-0.

That continental success, paired with domestic trophies, helped sharpen his standing across the game; and later in 2025, Hakimi was named African Player of the Year, an honour that placed him among the continent’s modern icons.

Tactically flexible, physically exceptional, and mentally resilient after spells across Spain, Germany, and Italy, Hakimi is the reason why top clubs now see wing-back excellence as a potential match-winner.

In short, PSG paid for a very modern defender, and, by winning in Europe and earning Africa’s top individual accolade, he repaid the faith in full.