Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has established himself among Europe’s leading attackers during his time at Napoli.
He is under contract with the Italian club until June 2027 but the lack of movement on a new deal has encouraged interest from elsewhere.
Paris Saint-Germain are emerging as the leading contenders, while Kvaratskhelia also features on the list of potential targets for teams like Chelsea. Liverpool are attentive to the situation, despite being well-stocked in the wide attacking areas as things stand. Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez can all operate from the left-hand side; Kvaratskhelia’s most effective position.
That means it may take a significant departure to create space for an addition such as Kvaratskhelia — irrespective of Napoli’s interest in Federico Chiesa, who has barely featured since making a switch to Liverpool from Juventus last August.
Napoli are in no rush to lose a player who has scored 30 goals and added 29 assists in 107 appearances for the club and would only countenance a sale for what they deem an appropriate fee.
David Ornstein
What else do I need to know about him?
The statistics might say cars and copper are Georgia’s largest exports, but those economists are wrong. In recent years, Georgia’s most important exports have been wine and winger Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, and there are more similarities than you might expect.
Georgian wine is surprising when it first hits the palate; delicious for sure, but different — thicker and more fragrant, wine but not wine. Kvaratshelia shares its idiosyncracies — watching him is different to watching most left-wingers, but somehow an even richer experience.
The 23-year-old is physically larger and stockier than his counterparts, with his dribbling style idiosyncratically upright. Yet these traits, allied with superb technical ability, are what force defenders into making late and hasty decisions. He is then quick, strong and ambidextrous enough to go the other way.
Another quirk is his journey, which he has repeatedly referred to in interviews as “difficult” — at the age of 21, he was playing for mid-ranking Russian club Rubin Kazan, closer to Kazakhstan than superstardom.
Yet he hit those heights in a flash — scouted by Napoli, he became the star of their 2022-23 season, where 12 goals and 13 assists in the league led Luciano Spalletti’s side to their first Serie A title in 33 years.
In his Champions League debut, he artfully deconstructed a potential future team-mate — Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold — in a 4-1 win which cemented his place as one of European football’s top talents.
The city bequeathed him a new nickname, borrowed from their greatest footballing son — ‘Kvaradona’. The intelligentsia soon coined another — ‘Kvaravaggio’.
At last summer’s European Championship, Georgia’s opponents knew Kvaratskhelia was the key player. It did not matter. They could not stop him. A goal against Portugal, and childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo, sent Georgia into the knockout stage at their first-ever major tournament, with his muscularity and deftness flourishing in what amounted to a free role.
“What helps him, and probably a lot of the Georgian players, is his mentality and attitude,” Georgia assistant David Webb told World Football Index in October. “He’s such a humble lad. When he’s among the group, you wouldn’t immediately see him as the standout player. Yes, you see his quality in training, but outside of that, he’s just one of the players.”
Napoli struggled in 2023-24, but Kvaratskhelia has helped Antonio Conte’s side back to the summit of Serie A. Having scored five goals and three assists this season, he is continuing to produce — but he is arguably less crucial to Conte’s system than he was to Luciano Spalletti’s.
Jacob Whitehead
Tell me about how he plays…
Kvaratskhelia catches the eye as an explosive winger but not the kind modern football is accustomed to. The Georgia international has a stockier physical profile and does not boast rapid pace. Instead, his technical ability is his biggest ally as his gentle touches lure defenders in and within seconds, he leaves them in his wake with the two-footed skill that acts as the string on which he has the ball.
Kvaratskhelia’s consistent performances for Napoli and Georgia show how he works well in unique systems, and that enables any team signing him to add unpredictability to their frontline. With the ball at his feet, he needs little help from complex tactical arrangements and is often solely reliant on his skillset and directness, winning fouls, sending pinpoint crosses, threading through balls, and getting shots away at will.
Since the start of 2022-23, no forward has created more chances, attempted more successful take-ons or played more key passes after a take-on in Serie A than Kvaratskhelia. Only Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez has taken more open-play shots, and only five players have scored more open-play goals. Additionally, only Martinez has won more possessions in the attacking third, which speaks to Kvaratskhelia’s work out of possession.
A prolific creator, a consistent scorer, and an intimidating presence, but somehow the scariest aspect of it all is that Kvaratskhelia is 23 (he turns 24 in February) and only just getting started.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
