During a two-year loan at Borussia Dortmund, Achraf Hakimi has established himself as one of the most complete wing-backs in the world.
We’ve looked at why the Moroccan has a decision to make: displace Dani Carvajal for Los Blancos or continue his quest to become the best in his position at another club.
Since turning up in Germany, he’s played left, right, full-back and wing-back for Die Borussen, due to his elite athleticism and high-level technique Hakimi has excelled in each position.
By possessing limitless stamina and electric pace his overlapping runs have become devastating, consequently the chasms of space that opens up allows his more advanced teammates to operate in.
View Achraf Hakimi’s full statistical visualisation gallery on Squawka’s official Instagram page below.
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The first Moroccan international to represent Real Madrid, which occurred in 2017, he also has a Champions League winner’s medal to his name.
As we can see from the scatter graph, the 21-year-old is the only full-back in Europe’s top five leagues + Primeira Liga and Eredivisie to average 4+ touches in the opposition box and 3+ recoveries in the defensive third per 90 minutes this season. Not the perfect stat, but it highlights his ability to be active and effective at both ends of the pitch.
Of the 331 players that have enjoyed minutes at wing-back in these seven major leagues, only Filip Kostic and Alphonso Davies have completed more take-ons. If you’re interested in cold, hard assists, only Trent Alexander-Arnold has more. From open play, Hakimi is top with twice as many as TAA.
Dani Carvajal, a four-time Champions League winner, will not be an easy man to usurp. But if Zidane keeps faith with his veteran right-back, Hakimi should leave. The high-flying full-back must start next season, for whichever team he finds himself at.
And if all that was not enough, in 2019, Borussia Dortmund’s No.5 posted the fastest top speed ever recorded in a Bundesliga match.
The new poster boy for wing-backs has arrived. His name is Achraf Hakimi.
