At the end of the summer of 2020, there was a growing sensation of emotion among recruitment personnel in the Brighton training base, located between the South Downs and the mouth of the La Mancha Canal.
The exploration structure built by the owner of Albion, Tony Bloom, is the envy of the world game for a good reason: the club signed players such as Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Marc Cucurella for relatively small sums before selling them with great gain.
The Bloom data algorithm to find players is one of the most effective and this time, the model had identified an 19 -year -old Georgian end in Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier League. Your name? Khvicha Kvarathskhelia, recently bought by Paris Saint-Germain de Napoli for £ 65 million and one of the main threats to Liverpool in the tie of the Champions League of the Tuesday Champions League in Anfield.
In the end, Brighton did not follow his interest in Kvarathskhelia, with Bloom and his team when seeing a player in the J-League of Japan who played in a position similar to Kvarathskhelia, and who knew they could buy for £ 2.5 million. Kawasaki Frontal Kaoru Mitoma's acquisition in August 2021 has not worked too much.
It is another example of how intelligent is Brighton. When they sign or explore a player, we have all learned to sit and take note.
That is exactly the effect that Kvararatskhelia has had since Napoli moved in the summer of 2022 from Dinamo Batumi in her homeland, with the series of the series to pay only 11 million.
KHVICHA KVARATSKHELIA raises a serious threat to Liverpool in the second stage on Tuesday
Forming a fabulous association with Victor Osimhen, Kvararatskhelia finished the campaign with 12 goals and 13 assists and Napoli were champions crowned for the third time in their history. They loved him so much in Naples that he even nicknamed 'Kvaradona'. When a player compares with Diego Maradona, an almost deity in Naples and possibly the best footballer in history, he must be doing something right.
Even now, in its third season in the five leagues in Europe, there is something gloriously without refining about Kvarathskhelia. Where some modern players seem to spend so much time perfecting their hairstyles and refining their Instagram stories as working on their weakest foot, Kvarathskhelia adjustment is the guy offered by a standard barber of the city center.
With the ball at his feet, it seems to shuffle while somehow also moves at high speed. While it is very effective, its exclusive movement, cut from the left to its right foot, was resolved over time by the defenses of Serie A: in its first season, Kvarathskhelia was registering almost a goal or an assistance for 90 minutes; In his final campaign, that had fallen to just more than one in any other game.
Perhaps it was partly why no Premier League club seriously rivaled in the PSG when they made the agreement in January, although Mail Sport understands that Chelsea had considered it in the past, even weighing which players to offer Napoli as a partial exchange.
With Billy Gilmour with Napoli and Trevoh Chabah that interested them in the past, the Italians were open to negotiation, although they are notoriously difficult to treat.
The directors and sports agents from all over Europe shudder at the perspective of sitting through a table by the president of Napoli, Aurelio de Laurentiis, a fearsome opponent in transfer conversations. Clubs may feel that they are on the verge of an agreement, only for circumstances to change repeatedly. Some decide that they do not need the annoyance and go to the next goal in their list.
However, with Kvarathskhelia, it would surely have been worth it.
David Webb, the British assistant coach of the Georgian national team, saw Harry Kane in close ends for a period in Tottenham of 2015-17 and believes that the captain of England shares numerous features with Kvarathskhelia.
The Georgian end of Paris Saint-Germain has been compared to the legendary George Best
“Elite players, like Harry Kane, have this advantage for them where they want to be the best they can be, and Kvara has that,” Webb told Mail Sport. 'You can't get it out of the training field.
'He wants to shoot, finishes, free shots, always so extra. I remember talking to Gareth Southgate about him, and he said: 'I love him. It is a setback, almost like George Best. He is so skilled and strong but misleading.
Look again at Liverpool, he retired for the most fractional off -game call, to understand the improvement appetite of the 24 -year -old.
Ryan Gravenberch seemed to relax very slightly when he saw the ball in the weakest foot of Kvarathskhelia. Only when the ball had been sent beyond Alisson in the farthest corner, the Liverpool midfielder realized his mistake.
If that goal had counted, it would have been the third consecutive Kvarathskhelia with its left foot, and the room in eight at the club level. Before that, only three of his previous 21 goals had come from his left side.
In many eyes, Kvarathskhelia would have been a perfect complement to Mohamed Salah on the opposite flank. However, Oliver Dehnhardt, head of football strategy at the respected exploration platform, emphasizes why the PSG was such an attractive option and why the premier league clubs could have thought twice.
“The best English clubs are well supplied in those positions and when the PSG is in the fight for a player, the salary becomes very high,” he tells Mail Sport. 'I imagine that I would be among at least the winners of the last eight for any United Kingdom club, so it needs to be a fixed headline.
'Do not underestimate the PSG project either: it is a fantastic city, they pay very well and generally win two trophies a year and work well in the Champions League.
Kvarathskhelia and his teammates need to cancel a 1-0 deficit in the second leg in Anfield
'Then you can run through your contract and go to Real Madrid or another superior club. Then there are multiple factors.
Kvarathskhelia's success has accelerated a trend. Valencia's goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will join Liverpool in the summer and more graduates of the Dinamo Tbilisi Academy will surely continue in the coming years.
“He has shown children in Georgia that you can become a person rich in football,” adds Dehnhardt. 'Then it has a population of only four million and young soccer players advance rapidly. The best thing is for Dinamo Tbilisi and that makes it easier to explore the market effectively.
If Kvarathskhelia acts on Tuesday as he did in the first leg against Liverpool, the interest in Georgian soccer players will only grow, and explorers worldwide are already deceived by the 16 -year -old Dinamo Tbilisi prospect Saba Kharabashvili.
A left back that also feels comfortable in the midfield, Kharabashvili played in the UEFA Conference League at age 15 and has done very well in its appearances for the first Dinamo team that Liverpool and Real Madrid are among those who observe closely.
If it turns out to be half well that Kvarathskhelia, Georgian football will have another superstar in their hands.
The secrets of the success of 'Kvaradona'
David Webb is the English assistant manager of the Georgian national team and has been working closely with Khvicha Kvarathskhelia since he was named in August 2023.
When Webb was linked to Georgia, Kvarathskhelia was a rising star of European football thanks to its impressive exhibitions with Napoli, who won the title of Serie A in 2023 at the end of the first season of Kvarathskhelia.
In addition to being an experienced coach, Webb has a master's degree in sports psychology and is in the perfect place to analyze the qualities of the star of Paris Saint-Germain inside and outside the field. Here he reveals to send by mail the secrets of the success of Kvarathskhelia.
Personality
Part of my mandate when I joined it was having individual meetings with the players and Kvara impressed me a lot. He is such a humble guy and you would never have known that he was one of the outstanding players within the group. It is a bit like Gareth Bale when he was with Wales: Kvara is a superstar, but does not behave as one. It is combined with the rest of the players and enjoy a laugh and a joke in the camp. He is a family man with a wife and son and is very patriotic, very passionate.
Mindset
It has that advantage that all elite players have, since they want to be the best you can. He has a very articulated football mind. When we have tactical meetings, he will know who will mark him in the team we are going to face. It is a quite quiet group and only two or three players will ask questions at those meetings, but Kvara is always one of them. He will always want to know more about the players and teams he will face.
The 24 -year -old has scored 17 goals in 40 appearances for the National Team of Georgia
Work rate
You can't get it out of the training field. He wants to shoot, finish, free kick, one against, always so extra. Someone will remain in the grass with him during those additional 10 or 15 minutes, but we always know that we have to be careful with him because we need it for the games. That type of behavior is the perfect example for our younger players.
Ability
Although his right foot is his strongest foot, there is not much in him, and that makes him a very dangerous player. You can shoot with both feet and change the ball from both feet. You can play on the flank or like a no 9, so the three floating PSG strikers are perfect for him. With Georgia we use it as a number 9 in a 3-5-2 system but with a free and roaming role, which allows the left drifting to the right. It can be very effective there.
Athletics
It is a rather thin guy, but it is surprisingly strong. We have played teams in which the defenders will try to get it out of the game and we have had to bring it for their own protection, but it is very difficult to eliminate the ball. Then it is misleading, just look how it accelerates with the ball. He has faced some really hard defenders, especially in series A, but his power and strength at the top of the body allow him to compete.