Achraf Hakimi on Luis Enrique's Impact at PSG
Achraf Hakimi leans back, thinks for a moment, and does not reach for tactics or systems to explain Paris Saint-Germain’s transformation. He reaches for something deeper.
“Luis Enrique? He has changed everything at PSG,” he told Sky Sport. It did not sound like a polite nod to a successful coach. It sounded like a verdict.
Enrique’s PSG, Built From the Inside Out
Under Enrique, PSG have finally become what they have long claimed to be. Not just a constellation of stars, but a functioning team. Three straight Ligue 1 titles, the 2024-25 Champions League already in the trophy cabinet, and now another European final on the horizon against Arsenal in Budapest.
Hakimi sees the difference every day.
“Since he arrived, everyone has changed their mentality: now we are a team, we play for each other, we run for each other, we are a family,” he said. “Playing like this, everything becomes easier. I am lucky to be in this team, with these teammates, and this coach. He changed my mentality and my way of being on the pitch. He has made me better as a footballer and as a man.”
This is not the language of a player merely thriving in a system. It is the language of a dressing room that has bought in completely.
From Injury Scare to Final Boost
PSG’s full-back has been one of the pillars of that new identity. Three goals and nine assists in 31 appearances this season underline his influence, but the numbers only hint at his constant surge down the right, his aggression without the ball, his authority in big moments.
Across his PSG career, the numbers swell: 28 goals and 44 assists in 206 matches. For a defender, that is the profile of a playmaker.
So when he limped off against Bayern Munich, alarms rang. A Champions League final without Hakimi would have stripped PSG of one of their most reliable weapons on both flanks of the pitch.
Enrique moved quickly to calm the noise. At his press conference this week, he cut through the speculation.
“Everyone is ready. Everyone arrives in a different way,” he said. “But it will be a week with a lot of changes, rest days and a lot of training to prepare the small offensive and defensive details. The rest is the sun in Paris and Budapest.”
No drama, no doubt. Hakimi is in. PSG’s right side is intact.
A Second European Crown in Sight
For Hakimi, the stage could hardly be bigger. A Champions League final against an Arsenal side reborn under Mikel Arteta, in a season where PSG are chasing back-to-back European titles and a second crown under Enrique.
“Being in the final again? I think it is a very beautiful achievement,” Hakimi said. “It was not an easy path and we are proud to have reached the end of the competition again. But now we must not lose focus because Arsenal are a truly strong opponent.”
There is no sense of a team satisfied with its status. The tone is sharper than that. PSG have spent years being told they lacked the mentality for this competition. Now one of their key leaders speaks openly about focus, about the grind to get here, about the threat still in front of them.
The club that once seemed permanently stuck between hype and heartbreak now stands on the brink of establishing something much more serious: continuity at the very top of Europe.
Heart in Milan, Eyes on Budapest
Even as he locks in on Arsenal, Hakimi’s story runs through another city: Milan.
He arrived at Inter from Real Madrid in September 2020 and exploded into life in Serie A. A title, a connection with the fans, a sense of belonging that has never really left him. A year later, PSG paid a reported €68 million to bring him to Paris, but Italy still tugs at him.
“Yes, I am an Interista and I am very happy for the championship and the Coppa Italia,” he said, reacting to Inter’s recent domestic success. The smile in those words is almost audible. The bond with his old club is not a polite formality; it is part of who he is.
He still keeps in touch with the people who shared that dressing room.
“If I have spoken to anyone? I wrote to Lautaro, I get along very well with him,” he added.
It is a reminder that careers at the top level are not straight lines. They are layers. Madrid, Milan, Paris. Each stop leaving its mark, each city claiming a piece of the player.
Yet the hierarchy of his priorities is clear. Affection for Inter, admiration for their trophies, messages to Lautaro Martínez. But the mission now is singular: win Europe again with PSG.
The Defender at the Heart of a New Era
Hakimi talks about Enrique with the conviction of someone who has lived a before and after. The “family” he describes is not a cliché when you look at the output: titles stacked at home, a Champions League already secured, another final lined up.
He has grown into one of the faces of this version of PSG, not just as a flying full-back but as a voice for the group. A player who arrived as a highly rated talent now speaks like a leader in a team that finally looks built for the long haul.
Budapest will tell its own story. Arsenal will press, probe, and ask the kind of questions only a Champions League final can pose.
Hakimi, reshaped by Enrique, anchored by his past in Milan, driven by the chance to make history in Paris, will have his answer ready on the right flank.
