Ten minutes in the first stage of Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League semi-final against Arsenal and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is in the left position. He covers Nuno Mendes, who is aimed forward. But it is Kvaratskhelia that is reprimanded.
Fabian Ruiz urges him to continue, making him clear that he can handle it. At the next break in the game, Luis Enrique issues further instructions. It is a small moment but indicative for something more. This is another type of star. This is another PSG.
It is not so long since Luis Enrique can be seen at Kylian Mbappe in a desperate attempt to convince the player to do something that looks like defensive tasks. Now, in Kvaratskhelia, they have a signing of € 70 million (£ 59.5 million) that may do too much.
The Georgia International did enough on the other side of the field in London to help give his side under control about the draw. It was his assist who allowed Ousmane Dembele to score the opening goal within four minutes. Jurrien Timber struggled to check Kvaratskhelia.
The Full-Back of Arsenal had stopped Vinicius Junior during the quarterfinals, but resorted to pollute the PSG-Vleugel player in an opening of 20 minutes in which PSG demonstrated why many experts now consider them the excellent team in Europe.
Timber was addicted late in the game, but then Kvaratskhelia leaned in his defensive responsibilities and protected Mendes by doubling Bukayo Saka. He won Martin Odegaard's ball in the corner and did the same with Saka a little later.
Ethan Nwaneri came up. Kvaratskhelia also has him unissing and fell on his knees full -time. Luis Enrique said his side was better without the ball than with it. Amazingly, it was his winger who won more of the ball than anyone else on the field.
A superstar that works
David Webb works closely with Kvaratskhelia as an assistant coach at the national team of Georgia. This is not all a surprise for him. “It is said that some superstar players do not show this work ethics, but that is not the case with Kvara,” he tells Sky Sports.
“National team camps are very quiet, condensed and short, so we don't have the luxury of having them for a long time. But what he still does, once a training session is completed, are his extras. We don't ask him. He does it on his own initiative.
“That is practicing free kicks, shooting, one against someone's, nothing spectacular, only improving the basis of his craft. If you look at the top players, they do this regularly, and it is not something he does for effect. He has done it since day one.
“He is a nightmare to get rid of the training field because he is very processed. He wants to score so many goals, he wants so many details, and he believes that doing one or two percent gives him that little more when it comes to a game.”
Luis Enrique thinks that is great, but it is his flexibility that makes him perfect for PSG. Half an hour in the draw against Arsenal, Kvaratskhelia switched from the left wing to the right. There was a short spell in which Dembele went to the left and he filled in the front.
“It is fluent because they do not have fixed no. 9, so he has the freedom to move between the lines, to pick up the ball in different areas,” says Webb. “He is very dangerous when he has the chance to roam and express himself. It makes it difficult for him to predict.”
Unique wing player in modern game
Webb also talks about Kvaratskhelia who has “something different” and that is a recurring theme in the analysis of a player who has taken an unusual route to the top. Mbappe was a world cup winner as a teenager. Kvaratskhelia played back in Georgia at the age of 21.
A product of the impressive Academy of Dinamo Tbilisi, it would be wrong to claim that he was not identified as a special talent at a young age, but the theory is that there will be enough of the rough edges in his game to make him a unique figure in Elite Football.
There were still hints of that maverick quality for his game in London. With fifteen minutes to go, he tried a 40-year lob from David Raya who would have seen few, let alone tried. “People described him as a throwback, right?”
Webb remembers a conversation with Gareth Southgate on Euro 2024. “He said that he is like a return, but with that extra quality. We no longer see old -fashioned wing players. We have had things about Chris Waddle and George Best.”
There is that flair to kvaratskhelia, but if these comparisons evoke images of an off-the-manchet type, a deeper look suggests what makes him so good something else. “What really impresses me is his character, humility and drive to reach the top,” Webb adds.
“He is always in investigating and asking questions and thinks how he can get the lead on his own performance. If we present a tactical meeting about prospective opponents, he will ask well -considered questions. He will ask about game scenarios on the Training Pitch.
“There are not many players who come to us and do that, but he is an intelligent boy, so he thinks about whom he plays, so that he can be prepared physically and tactically. He knows their strengths and weaknesses and where he could exploit them.”
It helps to explain why Kvaratskhelia continues to improve in 24 years. The level was already high. It is two years ago now that he helped Napoli to win the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years. But Webb is one of those who have witnessed an evolution in his game.
“His movement patterns have gotten a lot better. I think he gained that intelligence to know when he has to make his runs, when they have to drip, when to pass and when I have to cross. I have noticed that it went up. Because he has been so intelligent, he picks up things quickly.
“Antonio Conte was good for him because he clearly had to work a lot of the ball and we see that more with the national team. Not that he did not work before, but there is more intensity about him. I think his game is going to a different level.”
'Top five in the world'
There are many players in this PSG team that is said to be a symbol on the side. There is the long -term Marquinhos at the back, while Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Douse Doue represent the pivot to restore that French connection.
But in his own way, Kvaratskhelia, an outsider and a newcomer, can best embody the shift. With his socks around his ankles, his status as a star from the Italian game and his considerable transfer costs, he could be thought for a purely flashy acquisition.
Instead, he can help determine how Luis Enrique has changed a team of this team – one with rare speed and even rarer quality, but a group of players who also want to work. “That drive will certainly come in handy in the coming years,” concludes Webb.
“I think he might continue and be one of the top five in the world. For me he will certainly be a Champions League winner within the next two or three years.” If the extraordinary Khvicha Kvaratskhelia stops, he doesn't have to wait that long.