Achraf Hakimi on PSG's Transformation Under Luis Enrique
Achraf Hakimi leans back, thinks for a moment, and sums it up in a single line: Luis Enrique has “changed everything” at Paris Saint-Germain.
For once, it doesn’t sound like a cliché. It sounds like a verdict.
A New PSG, Built in the Dressing Room
Under Enrique, PSG have ripped up their old script. Three straight Ligue 1 titles, the 2024-25 Champions League already in the bag, and now a shot at a second consecutive European crown with Arsenal waiting in Budapest. The numbers are brutal. The feeling inside the squad, Hakimi insists, is different.
“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,” Hakimi told Sky Sport. The words are simple, but they cut straight to the core of what PSG have lacked for years: unity when it matters most.
“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.”
For a club long accused of being a collection of stars rather than a side with a soul, that is the real revolution. Not just a tactical tweak, but a cultural reset.
Hakimi’s Fitness Scare Eases Before Arsenal Showdown
The timing could not be more critical. PSG travel to Budapest to face Arsenal with history in sight, and their flying right-back is central to everything Enrique wants to do.
Hakimi has been devastating this season. Three goals and nine assists in 31 appearances, constantly stretching games, constantly offering an outlet. Across his PSG career, the numbers underline his importance: 28 goals and 44 assists in 206 matches. Those are not full-back figures; those are playmaker returns from the flank.
So when he limped off against Bayern Munich, alarm bells rang. A Champions League final without Hakimi would change the entire shape of PSG’s game.
Enrique moved quickly to kill the anxiety. In his press conference this week, the coach delivered exactly what the club wanted to hear.
“Everyone is ready. Everyone arrives in a different way,” he said, underlining that the full squad will travel. “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. Just a coach who knows his team is close to something historic and refuses to let tension creep in.
Hakimi, for his part, is locked in.
“Being in the final again? I think it is a very beautiful achievement,” he 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.”
Pride, followed immediately by warning. That balance is exactly what Enrique has tried to install.
Roots in Milan, Peak in Paris
Even as he prepares for what could be the defining night of his career, Hakimi’s thoughts still drift back to Italy.
Before Paris, there was Inter. Before the Champions League nights in the French capital, there were roaring evenings at San Siro. He joined Inter from Real Madrid in September 2020, exploded down the right flank in Serie A, then moved to PSG for a reported €68 million in July 2021. The fee reflected his rise; the affection for Inter never left.
“Yes, I am an Interista and I am very happy for the championship and the Coppa Italia,” he admitted, speaking about Inter’s recent domestic dominance. The bond with his former dressing room remains intact. “If I have spoken to anyone? I wrote to Lautaro, I get along very well with him.”
It’s a reminder that careers at the top level are built in chapters. Madrid, Milan, Paris. Different cities, different colours, same relentless drive.
Yet there is no confusion about his current mission. Inter sit in his heart, but the priority is clear: deliver another Champions League for PSG.
The club that once chased European glory with star names and fragile chemistry now arrives on the biggest stage with something stronger: a team that believes in its coach, and a defender who says his mentality, and even his character, have been reshaped.
Budapest will show just how far that transformation truly goes.
