Eight months and counting
Back in autumn 2025, Luis Enrique called him the best right-back in the world. These days, that line lands a lot differently.
Achraf Hakimi is going through a rough patch. The 27-year-old Morocco international is back in the Champions League on Wednesday against Slovan Bratislava, and nobody at PSG is pretending otherwise: he is not playing at the level he once was.
The numbers tell the same story. One goal, five assists in 2026. For a player who spent years among the most productive full-backs on the planet, that is thin pickings.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
The body first
Last season split him in two. An ankle, then the hamstrings. Eighty days out. Twenty-two matches missed.
That kind of disruption does not disappear in a few weeks. Hakimi is still running, still hammering out the high-intensity work. But the physical edge is not quite there now, and the final ball has lost its bite.
There is another issue too. PSG’s right flank has had a different look almost every month. The Ousmane Dembele partnership from 2024-2025 is gone. Since then, Hakimi has linked up with Desire Doue, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola, Lee Kang-in and, more recently, Maghnes Akliouche. Different wingers, different rhythms, and all those automatisms have to be built again.
Paris is not panicking
The 1-2 defeat to Monaco left a mark, with a few questionable decisions from the Morocco defender. Even so, the club is not sounding the alarm, according to L’Equipe.
Inside the club, the thinking is simple enough: Hakimi needs minutes to get his rhythm back, but they do not want to push him into another setback. Luis Enrique is therefore considering carefully managed rest periods over the next few weeks. It is a method he has already used with other senior figures in the dressing room.
There is also a heavy off-field backdrop. At the end of June, the Versailles appeals court upheld his referral to the departmental criminal court over alleged events dating back to February 2023, which he denies. He has lodged an appeal to the Court of Cassation, with a decision expected in October, and those close to him insist he is calm. Any trial would not take place for another 12 to 18 months.
Carrying all that through a full season? That takes its toll too.
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