It’s a name virtually nobody in Naples could pronounce at the start of the season. He was once an unheralded forward from Georgia, but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the name on everyone’s lips after his breathtaking start to life at Napoli.
He has taken Napoli and world football by storm, so much so, the Georgia international has been compared to club legend Diego Maradona – fans dubbing the 21-year-old ‘Kvaradona’.
Snapped up by Napoli for a mere €10million at the start of the season, Kvaratskhelia has torn Italy’s top flight apart with six goals and five assists to have I Partenopei seven points clear atop Serie A as they dream of their first Scudetto since 1990.
Kvaratskhelia has added another two goals and three assists in the UEFA Champions League, where Napoli will meet Eintracht Frankfurt in the last 16. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool will be glad to have seen the back of him, for now, after his mesmerising performances in the group stage.
Those exploits have not gone unnoticed amid links with Premier League juggernaut Newcastle United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid as Europe’s elite stand up and take notice of the sensation from Tbilisi.
Two-time Georgia international Beka Mikeltadze, who now plays in the Isuzu UTE A-League via Newcastle Jets, was team-mates with Kvaratskhelia at Dinamo Tbilisi and Rubin Kazan.
“For me, he is number one in the world now,” a smiling Mikeltadze told KEEPUP when asked if he could become the best player in the world as Kvaratskhelia prepares for Friday’s blockbuster against Juventus.
“When I came here to Australia for the first time [in 2021], I spoke to the boys about Georgian people and said Kvaratskhelia will be number one and now he shows he is number one in Napoli.
“He is very professional. This is number one to be a good player. Before we had in Georgia many good players, young kids but not professional. He is professional and loves football.”
From an unheralded footballer from Georgia, to a household name in European football. Kvaratskhelia was playing for Rubin Kazan at the start of 2022 before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With FIFA allowing foreign players to cancel their contracts at Russian teams, Kvaratskhelia returned to his homeland via Dinamo Batumi before Napoli came calling in a bargain deal.
In 2017-18, Mikeltadze and Kvaratskhelia were Tbilisi team-mates, along with another current A-Leagues star from Georgia – Macarthur FC star Bachana Arabuli.
While Kvaratskhelia only made one appearance for his boyhood club that season, Mikeltadze and Arabuli had seen enough in training to know Georgian football had something special.
“When we were first team, he was in the second team – 15-16. Sometimes he was coming to train with us,” Arabuli recalled to KEEPUP.
“What I remember, he was like a weak boy but when he came to training, he was very brave. He was like a player of many years in the first team. You could see from the first training, he was a big talent. Of course he needed to grow up – body and age – to have more of an impact.
“But from the first day you can you can understand how talented he is and now everyone is very proud because of him in Georgia. I wish him to continue this way what he’s shown in Europe.
“It’s just the first season for him in a big league. I think he will be one of the stars in the next 10 years of world football.”
Kvaratskhelia leads the way in Stats Perform xA (0.29) in Serie A this season, while he has tallied the equal-most assist-ending carries (three).
The talented dribbler has also amassed 24 total chance-creating carries, to go with 12 key-passing ending carries.
“He was a very shy player. A young player but shy,” Mikeltadze recalled.
“He is a great player now, and he was a great player at 16 years of age. When he take balls, he did amazing things and you didn’t think he was 16, you thought he was an experienced player.”
In 2019-20, Mikeltadze and Kvaratskhelia were Rubin Kazan team-mates.
That season, Kvaratskhelia was named the Russian Premier League’s Young Player of the Year.
“He just wants more and more,” said Mikeltadze said. “If he scores once, the next game he wants two. That’s why he is an amazing player.”
