Already made contact in the summer
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Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has become one of the most expensive winter transfers in football history. Paris Saint-Germain is reportedly paying 70 million euros to SSC Napoli for the services of the 23-year-old left winger. The Georgian signed a contract until 2029 and is at the top of Ligue 1 in terms of market value.
Kvaratskhelia was already toying with a move in the summer. Adviser Mamuka Jugeli spoke publicly about how his protégé would like to leave Naples. According to the French newspaper “L’Équipe”, PSG had offered 100 million euros for the Georgian international, which the Gli Azzurri rejected. “It is not the agents or fathers who decide the future of a player who is under contract with Napoli, but the Calcio Napoli club!!! End of story,” the club wrote in a statement on the short message service X.
In the summer of 2022, Naples paid Dinamo Batumi 13.3 million euros for Kvaratskhelia, who became a top performer in his first Scudetto win in 33 years in his first season. Its market value climbed from 15 million to 85 million euros in the first year; after a devaluation in December 2023, it has been valued at the same amount again since the most recent update. He replaces his new teammate Bradley Barcola (65 million euros) as the leader in the Ligue 1 ranking of the most valuable players.
After Higuaín: Kvaratskhelia second most expensive Naples departure
After Victor Osimhen, who was loaned out to Galatasaray in the summer after a failed move to PSG, Napoli are now giving up their second most valuable player in the squad, Kvaratskhelia. He ranks second in terms of the most expensive sales in the Italians’ history – only Gonzalo Higuaín brought in a higher fee of 90 million euros when he moved to Juventus in 2016. Meanwhile, the Parisians only paid more for Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Randal Kolo Muani.
Kvaratskhelia is currently in fifth place among the most expensive winter transfers in history. Only Philippe Coutinho (135 million euros to Barça), Enzo Fernández (121 million euros to Chelsea), Virgil van Dijk (85 million euros to Liverpool) and Dušan Vlahović (83.5 million euros) achieved a higher transfer fee before him to Juventus). In Ligue 1, Kvaratskhelia sets a record that was previously held by his PSG colleague Gonçalo Ramos. A year ago, Benfica received a €65 million transfer fee for the striker. The ranking is now led by five PSG transfers.
