PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi has claimed that former club Real Madrid didn’t have enough faith in him becoming a good player.
He alleges that the Spanish giants didn’t believe in his talent enough to keep him at the club and instead opted to loan him out and eventually sell him.
It will be a reunion of sorts for Hakimi as he faces his boyhood club when PSG meet Real Madrid on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
Achraf Hakimi and his journey from Madrid
Having come through the ranks at Real Madrid, Achraf Hakimi was regarded surplus to requirements and was sent out on a two-year loan deal to Borussia Dortmund in 2018.
After a successful loan spell with the Bundesliga giants, Real Madrid cashed in on the defender, selling him to Inter Milan for a reported fee of €43 million.
Hakimi spent less than a year with the Italian heavyweights but developed a great deal. His prospects shot up and he was then considered one of the best players in Europe in his position.
The defender was courted by Europe’s elite clubs and eventually joined Ligue 1 bigwigs Paris Saint-Germain in a reported €65 million deal.
Speaking in an interview with Spanish publication Marca ahead of PSG’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid, Hakimi said:
“My departure [from Madrid] was the result of two things; my lack of maturity and a lack of trust on the part of the club.
“When you arrive at Madrid from the Castilla it’s normal for the club not to instantly put all their faith in you because you’re a young player.
“But then I joined Dortmund on a two-year loan deal and I think I performed well there. So Real Madrid had to make another decision and they didn’t take a chance on me even though I could’ve kept performing well.
“Then, when I joined Inter, Madrid also had an option to buy me back and decided not to trigger it, so I believe that Real Madrid didn’t take a chance on me as much as other clubs.
“And [in the end)] I’m happy about that because I think that those clubs [Dortmund and Inter] didn’t make the wrong decision.”
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The 23-year-old further explained how far he has developed as a player since leaving Madrid, stating how his most recent clubs helped him mature.
“I’ve changed quite a lot, I’m older, more mature and more experienced. In Madrid I was still a Castilla player who was playing with canteranos and I lacked experience at a high level.
“These years I spent in other big clubs and teams helped me become the player I am today, more experienced, mature and with more responsibility.”
When asked what he expected from his former side in Tuesday’s clash, Hakimi admitted that his current side have to be wary of the threat the 13-time European Champions possess.
“It’s clear that they have great players who have been together for many years and they have tremendous quality.
“We have to be very careful with all of them, their counterattacks and all. But they also have to be careful with us, as we will try to control the game.”
What to expect when Achraf Hakimi meets Real Madrid
Hakimi, arguably one of the best right-backs in the world, faces his boyhood club Real Madrid as a man after leaving the club as a teenager.
The defender has scored three goals and provided three assists in 20 games for PSG since his move in the summer.
He would be hoping to add to that tally to show his former team what they missed out on.
Les Parisiens are boosted by their potency in attack which boasts the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi. They are even more lethal following the return of Neymar who was spotted in training on Monday after being sidelined for several weeks with an ankle injury.
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