How Khvicha Kvaratskhelia changed the game for PSG - and left Liverpool ruing missed chance to sign Georgia's wing wizard

Kvaratskhelia was a complete unknown when he arrived in Naples in July 2022. Literally within a matter of months, though, the locals had nicknamed him 'Kvaradona', a reference to his Diego Maradona-like dribbling and, thus, the ultimate compliment in a city where the Argentine is still considered a god.

However, while Italian football fans had already been blown away by Kvaratskhelia's mesmeric displays over the course of the first five rounds of the Serie A season, he only really first came to the attention of the rest of Europe during Napoli's stunning 4-1 victory over Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool on the opening matchday of the 2022-23 Champions League.

Several wingers may have troubled Trent Alexander-Arnold over the years, but nobody has ever tormented him quite like Kvaratskhelia, who beat the right-back almost at will, and most notably before teeing up Giovanni Simeone for the hosts' third goal. Alexander-Arnold simply couldn't cope with Kvaradona - but then again, nobody could.

Kvaratskhelia made Joe Gomez look foolish in the build-up to both Napoli's second and third goals, firstly by picking the centre-back's pocket while pressing high up the pitch, then with a show of strength near the touchline that gave him sufficient time and space to cross for Simeone to score. The Tbilisi native also twice embarrassed Fabinho in the same jinking run that quickly went viral.

In that sense, Klopp had a point when he said that there was nothing really Alexander-Arnold could have done on the night, pointing out that the only way they could have possibly nullified Kvaratskhelia was preventing the ball to getting to the then-21-year-old - because once it did, there was no stopping him.

"When he has the advantage of the first movement, then he is already gone," the German told reporters. "But if you cannot do that, then you need to be protected because he has speed, he is cheeky, he goes inside, he can go outside, and that makes it always really difficult.

“I know people will talk about one or two situations when Trent tried to be in front of him and the ball goes through, but the boy is really good and really quick and you have to defend him together in these moments."

In truth, it didn't really make a difference how many men were assigned to mark Kvaratskhelia, there was no real containing him for the remainder of his debut season in Serie A. He ended up hitting double figures for both goals and assists as he combined brilliantly with striker Victor Osimhen to inspire Napoli to their first Scudetto since 1990 - which only strengthened the comparisons with Maradona.

By that stage, Partenopei president Aurelio De Laurentiis was doing his utmost to tie the €10m (£8.7m/$11.5m) bargain buy from Dinamo Batumi down to a new contract - not least to fend off mounting interest from Europe's elite. Despite protracted negotiations, though, no agreement was reached and the expectation was that Kvaratskhelia would leave Naples during the summer of 2024.

PSG's pursuit was public knowledge at the time, but it was later revealed by Gianluca Di Marzio that Liverpool had offered a fee in the region of €100m (£87m/$115m) for Kvaratskhelia in the final days of the window. According to the Italian transfer market expert, the Reds had also been willing to let the Georgia international stay at Napoli for the remainder of the 2024-25 season - in the very same way they had loaned Kvaratskhelia's compatriot, Giorgi Mamardashvili, back to Valencia after agreeing a £29m ($38m) deal for the goalkeeper.

Despite the intense interest in Kvaratskhelia, Napoli opted against selling the winger, not least because new coach Antonio Conte was desperate to build his team around him.

"He has characteristics that just aren’t common," the former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter boss said. "He’s strong, he has that bit of fantasy, he creates goal-scoring opportunities and assists. We want to draw out the best of what makes him special."

Conte didn't quite achieve that objective over the first half of the season, though, and that was arguably because Kvaratskhelia still wasn't fully committed to the new project at the Maradona. Napoli continued to push for the player to extend a contract set to expire in 2027, but Kvaratskhelia submitted a transfer request shortly after the opening of the 2025 winter window.

"From my point of view, it’s a great disappointment," Conte told reporters. "Today I have to take a step back. I can’t keep those who want to leave tied up in chains. I did that in the summer and had six months to convince all the parties to find a solution.

"I realise that the news has come out of the blue, but now I am taking a step back and it’s right that the club and Kvara’s entourage resolve the situation."

According to De Laurentiis, Napoli were left with no option but to cash in on Kvaratskhelia - even though they were in the middle of a title challenge.

"I had to do it because his agent was threatening to invoke Article 17 (which allows players to cancel contracts in specific circumstances)," the film producer told the Corriere della Sera. "After the Georgian's first, formidable season, we immediately set about negotiating a contract renewal, improving his salary and even offering him a very significant sum, because it was obvious that the limited compensation would attract half the world ready to make golden bridges for him. But his agent, Mamuka Jugeli, had other plans for himself and for the player."

Whatever the reasons behind Kvaratskhelia's Napoli exit, the net result of the extension impasse was one of the most exciting wingers in the world becoming available for a reduced fee. Interest in his services was expected to be intense - and yet PSG pretty much had a free run of Kvaratskhelia, with Liverpool's lack of movement particularly puzzling.

At the time of Kvaratskhelia's transfer request, Liverpool were well on their way towards winning just their second Premier League title, while they were well-stocked out wide. Mohamed Salah was in the midst of arguably the greatest individual season in Premier League history, while both Diaz and Cody Gakpo were excelling whenever they played on the left flank.

However, Salah's form has fallen off a cliff since falling out with Slot while Diaz's sale to Bayern Munich is now being keenly felt because of Gakpo's dreadful regression this season, with 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha now looking like the most effective winger in the squad.

In fairness to the Reds' recruitment team, they could not have foreseen Salah and Gakpo's sudden struggles, but Diaz's exit had been on the cards for some time - which is presumably why Liverpool reportedly tried to line up Kvaratskhelia to replace the wantaway Colombian all the way back in 2024.

Kvaratskhelia may not be quite as versatile as Diaz, who did a decent job playing through the middle for Slot, but he's arguably an even better dribbler - and that ability to beat a man, either with pace or trickery, has been repeatedly conspicuous by its absence during Liverpool's laboured attempts to break down low blocks this season.

To make matters much worse, the increasingly ragged Reds now run the risk of being given yet another run-around by their long-time transfer target-turned-tormentor, with Slot's struggling side set to face Kvaratskhelia's PSG twice in the space of the next six days.

PSG's acquisition of Kvaratskhelia raised eyebrows at the time because the French outfit already had Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue on their books - but he actually proved the missing piece of the puzzle.

Kvaratskhelia added even more pace and penetration to a forward line made up exclusively of wingers that propelled PSG to Champions League glory with a stunning 5-0 demolition of Inter in Munich - which only served as a painful reminder to Liverpool, whom Luis Enrique's men had eliminated in the last 16, that you can't really have too much of a good thing.

In saying that, Kvaratskhelia didn't play particularly well during the first half of the current campaign for PSG - at least not in Ligue 1, where he's scored just once since the start of December. There have also been reports in France that the 25-year-old feels as if he was one of the intended targets of Dembele's recent verbal attack on the supposedly selfish team-mates who he believes are responsible for PSG's fluctuating form - which has led to speculation that Kvaratskhelia and his representatives are open to a summer transfer.

Luis Enrique, though, has always been as big a fan of the attacker's "mentality" as his technical ability, and it's also well worth noting that Dembele went out of his way to congratulate Kvaratskhelia for netting twice in the 5-2 win over Chelsea in Paris on March 11.

The 'Georgian George Best' was pretty much unplayable on the night, while he also put the Champions League last-16 tie to bed by scoring the opening goal in the return clash at Stamford Bridge the following week. Consequently, there's a feeling that Kvaratskhelia is once again peaking at precisely the right time for PSG.

Liverpool supporters can, of course, cling to the hope that there is some veracity to the reports of his unrest, meaning their club might get another chance to make amends for not moving for Kvaratskhelia last year, and one certainly never knows what the summer window holds.

For now, though, they're just going to have to brace themselves for another bitterly depressing demonstration of what might have been, starting at Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

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