Achraf Hakimi, 26-year-old right-back for Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco, has made a habit of impressing on the pitch. The recent winner of the Marc-Vivien Foé 2025 award has an incredible ability to string together efforts during matches and games played. Romain Saïss, a 35-year-old central defender from Al-Sadd who has played in Ligue 1 and the Premier League, and who has also played alongside him in the French national team, explained to Le Parisien newspaper.
Saïss “he still benefited from Luis Enrique’s management.”
“Ashraf is someone who wants to play every game and stay on the pitch for 90 minutes. He never wants to rest. I don’t think rest is in his vocabulary. This season, however, he has benefited from Luis Enrique’s management, which has enabled him to be fresher and more consistent. But you can call him a top-class athlete when you see the energy he expends during a match.
Achraf is conditioned like a sprinter: he’s slender. He’s very fast and has a lot of power. In the national team, he’s always the fastest player in the drills. Inevitably, his qualities lead him to be attracted by the goal. But he’s made progress in repeating defensive runs. He comes back quicker. To be able to do what he does, without getting injured, is proof of a certain seriousness.
Saïss “he must organize individual sessions.”
Given the speed at which Achraf runs, he has to keep his muscles alert. He works a lot on his ischios and quadriceps. He can’t do the same frequency of runs in training as he does during matches, given the configuration of the sessions, so he has to organize individual sessions to keep up the pace physically and prepare his body for the effort. He manages this very well, and if he’s the best in the world in his position today, it’s no coincidence.”
Of course, there’s an element of “luck” in a player’s qualities, especially in terms of technique and athleticism. But a career at the highest level cannot be based on innate talent alone. There’s always a huge amount of work involved.
These days, training is not even enough for most of the top clubs. There’s the much-vaunted “invisible”. This involves seriousness in terms of sleep, nutrition, but also often personalized exercises to stay in top form. For Hakimi, there is no doubt that he gives himself every possible chance to achieve great things. And it’s paying off. Even if there’s never a guarantee against injury. Of course, we wish him all the best for the future.
In order to help him, as with all the PSG players, coach Luis Enrique and the entire staff are working hard. You can feel the great attention paid to workload and playing time. There’s never any question of taking a risk, whatever the player.
It’s also in keeping with the idea of the team above all else. The team can play with the same idea and a certain quality, even if some players are absent. This allows some players to take a breather when needed, because even the greatest professional needs one, but it also gives everyone a dose of serenity. A point not to be neglected if injuries are to be avoided. The mind plays a vital role.
