‘Outstanding’: Carragher claims player Tottenham wanted to sign last summer is now world’s best right-back

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Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have agreed that Achraf Hakimi is currently the best right-back in the world.

The pair were asked to name their World XIs based on performance across the past year ahead of the votes for the official award going live.

They agreed on the identity of seven players in their squads and Hakimi was among them, slotting into the side on the right of a back four.

There was a clear World Cup influence on the team, and Hakimi went to the semi-finals of that tournament with Morocco.

Carragher calls Hakimi the best right-back in the world

They were the story of the tournament, stunning the likes of Belgium, Spain and Portugal before being eventually eliminated by France.

That is where Hakimi plies his trade with Paris Saint-Germain, and he won the Ligue 1 title there for the first time in his career in 2022 as well.

Neville knows a thing or two about being a top right-back, while Carragher also played there at times across his lengthy career with Liverpool.

Carragher said of Hakimi: “Then you go to right-back, we’ve gone for Hakimi who was outstanding in the World Cup and has obviously done really well as well at PSG.”

Just after the end of the summer transfer window, The Athletic reported that Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte actually wanted to sign Hakimi at right-wing-back.

Conte apparently wanted someone on a similar level to Perisic on the right hand side of his defence and the report claims that the Italian, deep down, would’ve liked Hakimi at Spurs, having managed him at Inter Milan.

However, Tottenham immediately knew that a deal to sign the Moroccan, who PSG recruited in a £60 million deal last year (Sky Sports), was simply impossible in this window.

Hakimi would have been a sensational signing for Spurs, but it was always going to be very, very difficult to get him out of PSG.

That was before his World Cup exploits, which have only elevated his level to the extent where he is now being talked about as one of the world’s best at the age of 23.

Does he deserve that acclaim? England have four elite right-backs, but you could not argue any of them had a better year than Hakimi.