Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s career before joining Napoli

Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has become one of the hottest properties in world football this season. As of this writing, Kvaratskhelia has been a key part of a Napoli side that is 19 points atop of the Serie A league table and they are in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, facing off against AC Milan.

Embed from Getty Images

Therefore, it is safe to say that a lot of eyes are on a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but where did he come from? What was his career like before joining Napoli? Let’s find out.

Born on February 12^th of 2001, Kvaratskhelia started in his home nation of Georgia by having his debut at just 17 years old with Dinamo Tbilisi. He only played a handful of games in the 2017/18 season, but it was enough to start contract negotiations, but those quickly fell apart and he ended up signing the next season for FC Rustavi in that same league.

He had more regular time and started to make an impact, which prompted the interest of German giants Bayern Munich, but that transfer never came to fruition. However, he did sign for Lokomotiv Moscow on loan in February of 2019, this being his first team abroad.

As an interesting fact, The Guardian did an article about the 60 best young players worldwide back in 2018 and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was on that list.

During his six months on the Russian side, Kvaratskhelia slowly built his way to the team and ended up convincing manager Yuri Semin to sign him permanently, but sadly both clubs failed to reach an agreement. Semin highlighted how talented the Georgian was and was disappointed at him not being signed by the club.

Regardless, his exploits in Russia did give him the chance to sign for Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2019, and he would end up playing there until 2022. It was during this time period that Kvaratskhelia found a lot of stability and development as a player, becoming one of the best players in the entire league in the process.

L’Equipe, back in early 2001, made a list of the best 50 footballers born in the 21^st century and Kvaratskhelia was the only player in the Russian league to be featured there. In fact, such was the quality of his performances that there was a report that said his market value was raised five times since he got signed by Kazan in only one year.

However, after the Russia-Ukraine conflict started in early 2022, foreign players in the Russian league were allowed to unilaterally break their contracts and leave, which Kvaratskhelia did and signed for a team in his country, Dinamo Batumi. He only spent half a season there, but he managed to score 8 goals and 2 assists in 11 games, quickly becoming the best player in the league.

The rest of the story is something you’re already familiar with: he signed for Serie A Napoli for 12 million euros in the summer of 2022 and has gone on to become one of the best players in the world in terms of his individual performances. Now it’s time for him to end the season on a high note.

🔥 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 🔥

Kvaratskhelia è l’@EASPORTSFIFA #POTM di Marzo 👏#FIFA23 @EA_FIFA_Italia

— Lega Serie A (@SerieA) March 30, 2023