Former Arsenal scout Tomasz Pasieczny has revealed why Arsenal elected against pursuing a move for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in 2022.
Kvaratskhelia, now aged 24, is one of the standout wingers in world football and was part of the PSG side which knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage.
Things could have been very different for the Georgia international, who was on Arsenal’s radar three years ago.
Kvaratskhelia was playing for Rubin Kazan at the time and subsequently signed for Dinamo Batumi before securing a high-profile move to Napoli for around £11million.
In January this year he signed for PSG for an initial fee of £70million and has scored four goals and provided six assists in 24 appearances so far for the French club.
Arsenal’s former scout for Eastern Europe Pasieczny was alerted to the potential of Kvaratskhelia and his Rubin Kazan team-mate Zuriko Davitashvili.
A former Arsenal scout has revealed why the club decided not to pursue a move for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in 2022
Instead of signing Kvaratskhelia, Arsenal brought in Marquinhos, who has struggled
Pasieczny told weszlo.com: ‘Georgia’s youth team visited Poland, there was a qualifying tournament. My job was to pay attention to other teams, but when you saw them – Khvicha and Zuriko Davitashvili – we had long discussions with other scouts about who was better. Then I watched both of them in Russia, so I followed their development for a long time.’
However, Pasieczny was left unimpressed by how Kvaratskhelia struggled during a game against Dynamo Moscow after the crowd reacted negatively to some poor dribbles.
‘He couldn’t cope with it. Every next move was bad, from start to finish. He got lost, the ball bounced off him, you could see that he had lost his confidence.
‘He overcame it, but if it had continued, it would have been a problem. Being affected by a few thousand people in Kazan doesn’t lead to a good rating.
‘Everyone knew he would be mega good, but they wondered how good. Whether he would be the absolute top or a bit lower. Few had any doubts that he wouldn’t be anything at all. However, at that stage I had to write how it is, draw conclusions, write where the problems are.’
Instead of attempting to sign Kvaratskhelia, Arsenal instead brought in Marquinhos from Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian is still on Arsenal’s books but has made just six senior appearances for the club and is currently on loan at Cruzeiro for the rest of this calendar year.
During his time at Arsenal Marquinhos has also had loan spells at Norwich, Nantes and Fluminense.
Scout scout Tomasz Pasieczny monitored Kvaratskhelia while he was playing for Rubin Kazan
Kvaratskhelia’s first season at PSG, meanwhile, looks set to be a memorable one.
PSG have already been crowned Ligue 1 champions and are now in pursuit of the treble – they will face Inter Milan in the Champions League final and are also through to the final of the Coupe de France, where they will take on Reims.
