Achraf Hakimi reveals he rejected Chelsea move in the summer
Speaking to L’Equipe (h/t Mirror), PSG new boy Achraf Hakimi revealed that he rejected a chance to move to Chelsea in the summer. The Moroccan went on to move to the French capital from Inter Milan for a significant amount of €60million and despite Chelsea’s offers, he felt that he would be happier at PSG.
Hakimi has impressed wherever he has played during his budding career. First at Real Madrid, then Borussia Dortmund, then Inter Milan and finally now at PSG. At 22 years of age, he has played for some of the top clubs in Europe and won a host of titles already. Hence, it was not surprising in the least bit to see him in demand over the last summer.
PSG and Chelsea were primarily after the defender as he had impressed the season before at Inter, winning the Serie A. Chelsea Thomas Tuchel was quite keen on him because he would have been a good fit for his setup at the club. However, Hakimi would make the move to PSG and has already started impressing there.
Hakimi had a chance to speak about the summer move. And he revealed the fact that Chelsea were after him along with PSG but he chose the latter.
“I had two offers, one from Chelsea and one from Paris Saint-Germain. But I felt I had to come to Paris, that I would have been happy there. PSG is a great club, I really appreciate the support the fans gave me straight away. I was lucky because so many other champions joined me. I feel good at PSG, we have a dream team and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
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This was perhaps a huge miss for Chelsea given Hakimi’s talent. However, the Blues cannot say or do much as the player chose to move to PSG and rejected Chelsea. It will be interesting to see how Hakimi’s career pans out in the next few years at PSG or some other club, should he move again.