Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is back for PSG in the UEFA Super Cup: Georgian missed the World Cup but might just be Europe’s best | Football News

It was heralded as the World Cup in which all the stars shone. But while the big names did indeed illuminate the summer, the return of the club game with the showpiece UEFA Super Cup in Salzburg is a chance for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to reclaim his spotlight.

Kvaratskhelia, 25, was the Champions League player of the season as Paris Saint-Germain successfully defended their crown in May. He returns in August eyeing a threepeat to remind us all that perhaps the best player in Europe was not at the World Cup.

Marquinhos twice lifted the Champions League trophy for PSG. Desire Doue and Vitinha claimed the man-of-the-match awards in Munich and Budapest, respectively. Ousmane Dembele was awarded the Ballon d’Or for his efforts in securing that first historic triumph.

But if there was a catalyst for what is becoming an era of dominance, it was the arrival of Kvaratskhelia. Signed from Napoli in January of last year, his impact was instant. PSG had been a little underwhelming in Europe prior to his arrival. Something was missing.

No longer. Kvaratskhelia helped turn them into a pressing machine. His all-action approach did not just suit the demands of Luis Enrique, it appeared to have a transformative effect on those around him, setting new standards in the forward line.

Aston Villa, the opponents in this season’s UEFA Super Cup, know all about him. It was Kvaratskhelia’s dancing feet that twisted the blood of Axel Disasi in the first leg of their 2025 quarter-final. That was arguably PSG’s toughest examination in that knockout run.

Last season, he played an even more significant run at the business end of the tournament. No player scored more than Kvaratskhelia from the play-off round onwards. He also finished with the most Champions League assists from open play.

It is some body of work that he is building. Of course, even before the PSG move, he was the one who inspired Napoli to the title, ending their long wait and dispelling the myth that only Diego Maradona himself could make that happen – hence the ‘Kvaradona’ nickname.

Part of the fascination with the Georgian is that he is a genuine one-off, an outlier. There is no player in world football quite like him, in style or story. Many of his team-mates in Paris form part of a conveyor belt of talent produced by the French game, for example.

In England, revamping the academy structure aided development. Couple that with the rise of the Premier League and young players benefiting from being within elite environments, maybe it is not so surprising that stars emerge. Kvaratskhelia is different.

Speaking to Leonid Slutsky, his coach at Rubin Kazan, about this in 2023, he summed it up well. “Nobody knew about him before he came to Italy and that is understandable.” Memorably, the Russian added: “I congratulate Napoli because they won the lottery.”

Slutsky talked of his “abnormal thinking” on the football pitch, a tendency to do things differently. Speaking to Xisco Munoz about this, a Spaniard who played and coached at Kvaratskhelia’s former club Dinamo Tbilisi, he feels the man’s background explains it.

“In Spain, we stop and pass, maybe learning on a training ground or at school,” Xisco told Sky Sports. “In Georgia, it is street talent. In Georgia, they play their football on the street. They have to fight and have the contact. It is difficult to teach this in school.”

Nevertheless, David Webb, who worked with Kvaratskhelia with his national team remembers him being a nightmare to get off the training ground. “He is very process-driven. It is not something that he does for effect. He has done it since day one.”

In that context, perhaps Georgia’s failure to qualify for the World Cup this summer was a curse and a blessing for Kvaratskhelia. He dragged his team to Euro 2024 and then played at the Club World Cup last year. This was his first opportunity to refresh in years.

If it helps his body, it may hinder his Ballon d’Or hopes. Kevin Keegan did take the prize in a World Cup year when England did not make it to the tournament, but back then only European players were eligible for the award and Argentina had emerged victorious.

In 2026, there are a number of World Cup-winning Spaniards to consider, while the individual scoring feats of Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane for club and country are persuasive. But the Super Cup is a chance for Kvaratskhelia to reassert himself.

His own individual skills continue to both decorate and drive the performances of the best team in Europe right now. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the outstanding player in last season’s Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain’s warrior winger, is ready to go again.

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