Former Inter Milan defender Achraf Hakimi has revealed why he opted to join Paris Saint-Germain over Chelsea.
The 22-year-old played a crucial role to help the Italian heavyweights win the Serie A title for the first time in 11 years. The Morocco international says the Blues were keen on his services, but he opted to join PSG.
"When I received these two offers [from Chelsea and PSG], I had the intuition that I had to come to Paris, that I was going to be happy there," Hakimi told L'Equipe as quoted by PSG Talk
"PSG is a great club, and I appreciated how much the people here seemed to love and desire me. And I was lucky that my arrival was accompanied by great transfers. I am already sure I wasn’t wrong; I feel good, we have a dream team, and I am happy to be part of it."
Inter Milan had slapped a €60-million price on the player, and the English charges were not ready to pay the full amount, but they were interested in involving a player in the deal.
However, the Parisians paid the full amount to sign the Atlas Lion who has since been impressive. His latest contribution was on Wednesday when he scored a brace in the team's 2-1 win over Metz in a Ligue 1 assignment.
Five minutes into the game, Hakimi put PSG ahead but the hosts restored parity through Mali’s Boubakar Kouyate six minutes before the half-time break.
The ambitions of Frederic Antonetti’s men to earn all points suffered a massive setback as Tunisia’s Dylan Bronn was given his marching orders by referee Jeremie Pignard for a second caution.
Profiting from Metz’s numerical disadvantage, the nine-time French kings sealed a valuable away win with Hakimi completing his double in the closing minutes.
"I'm happy with the win and the three points and the hard work of the whole team until the last minute," Hakimi told the PSG website later on.
"I'm really happy to be able to help the team with my two goals so that we can continue our good momentum. As I said, we have worked very well, and we want to continue in this direction and with this victory continue as long as possible."
