Achraf Hakimi, one of the current figures of Paris Saint-Germain, recalled the difficult start he had at the club and how the arrival of Lionel Messi impacted his performance and confidence within the team.
In a talk on the podcast The Bridge, together with Kyliam Mbappé and Aurélien Tchouameni, the side explained that his adaptation in France was not easy and that the arrival of the Rosario changed the collective functioning: “My first year in Paris was difficult. He came from Inter, he was a different winger. Messi hadn't arrived yet, he arrived later. And when the project arrived, it changed. We didn't know he was coming. When it arrived, the style of play changed.”
That change had a direct impact on their game: "We were playing in different ways. I didn't enjoy it. I didn't dare to do the things I like to do, like to attack, to be important. I felt like a small player,” confessed the Moroccan, who had been a key player in his previous teams
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Hakimi also recalled the mental impact of this situation and the criticism he received: “In the national team I was an important player and mentally it was a difficult time to play for PSG the way I wanted. Then came the criticism, I remember that they criticized me a lot. They said 'why does he play like this in Morocco and not here', 'it's not right', people don't understand the difference,
