NOBODY in Scotland needs to be told that Georgia, despite their failure to qualify for either a European Championship or World Cup finals since gaining their independence from the Soviet Union, produces outstanding footballers.
Shota Arveladze, Temuri Ketsbaia, Zurab Khizanishvili and Georgi Nemsadze are still held in high regard by supporters in this country who saw them in action for Dundee and Rangers back in the early 2000s.
Yet, the eastern European nation now have a new icon who is, despite being just 22 and even though he has only won 21 caps, already considered to be a greater talent than any of his celebrated compatriots.
And hopes are high back in his homeland that he can lead Georgia, who Scotland face in a Euro 2024 qualifier at a sold-out Hampden tomorrow evening, through to a major tournament at long last in the very near future.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Napoli winger who has just been named Champions League Young Player of the Season and the Serie A Player of the Season at the end of his debut campaign in Italy, is being tipped by many knowledgeable observers to be the next superstar of the European game.
He is certainly more than capable of giving Steve Clarke’s men, flying high in first place in Group A following their incredible win over Norway in Oslo on Saturday night, a very difficult 90 minutes.
“Players like Kvara come along every 50 years ,” said Nika Kevkishvili, who works for Setanta Sports in Georgia. “We have certainly not had a player with all of the attributes he has for the last half a century. Physically, technically and mentally, he is amazing.
“For me, he is a mix of the brilliance of Georgi Kinkladze and the personality of Shota Arveladze. He is a really special, generational, world-class talent.”
He added: “Everybody here loves Kvara. Not just because he plays for a big club like Napoli and has been scoring goals left, right and centre. They love his character too. He is a very humble guy. He is the same now as he was before he went to Italy and became famous.
“I personally have known him since he was 12 and I can tell you he is exactly the same guy now as he has always been. He just wants to play football. I am sure he still sleeps with a football, just like he did when he was a kid.
“There were demonstrations against the government in Georgia back in March because they wanted to introduce what was called ‘the Russian law’. Kvara went on social media and posted that Georgia’s future lay with Europe and the European Union. He made a strong public statement and his team mates all supported his stance. As I say, we love him”
Alasdair Mackenzie, a Scottish sports writer who is based in Rome and covers Italian football for EuroSport, believes the hype surrounding Kvaratskhelia, who Napoli paid Dinamo Batumi just €10m for last summer, is entirely justified.
“He has been an absolute sensation,” he said. “It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the best signing any Italian club have made in decades. He was bought for a cut price fee because he had been playing in Russia with Rubin Kazan and his contract was suspended. Nobody was expecting the finished article.
“He started well in Serie A. But when Napoli played Liverpool in the Champions League group stages in September and won 4-1 he absolutely destroyed them. He was playing against Trent Alexander-Arnold as well. That was when everyone sat up and started to take notice of him.
“He plays on the left wing and always wants the ball at his feet on the touchline. He is quite an old-fashioned winger. He is always looking to take players on and he is brilliant at it. He is always looking to get one-on-one with full-backs. He is lightning quick, has incredible acceleration, and is a fantastic dribbler.
“You never know which way he is going to go. He is not one of these one-dimensional wingers who will always cut inside and go for goal. He will sometimes go outside and work his way to the touchline, he will sometimes go inside and spank one from range.
“He is as creative as he is clinical. He ended up in double figures for both assists and goals in all competitions. So he is a huge threat. Whoever plays at right wing back for Scotland on Tuesday night is going to have huge problems given that is the area he is going to be occupying."
Kvaratskhelia has been tipped by many to become football’s next €100m player. Mackenzie can understand why and will not be surprised if it happens. However, he feels that Napoli should be able to hold onto their prized asset for at least another season. He envisages striker Victor Osimhen and centre half Kim Min-jae being sold in this transfer window but not their team mate.
“He has won Serie A in his first season, he has performed at the top level in the Champions League and in international football his performances have been incredible as well,” he said. “I don’t think a €100m fee is unrealistic. But I think Napoli will say: ‘You’ve only been here one season, stay with us, keep developing, show it wasn’t a one-off, don’t leap into the next move too soon’.
“But Luciano Spaletti has gone and they have just made a really underwhelming appointment by bringing in Rudi Garcia as his replacement. Will he be convinced that Napoli will be able continue at the same level if an offer comes in?
“He was in an impossible position when he joined. He was replacing Lorenzo Insigne, a club legend. But he exceeded anything that Insigne ever did. His season has just been spectacular. There will be a lot of pressure on him to see if he can deliver. He may ask if he can do that if the squad is not going to be as competitive. It is hard to call what will happen with him.”
But both Kevkishvili and Mackenzie acknowledge that Kvaratskhelia is far from infallible. The former saw how Norway nullified the threat he posed by putting two men on him in their Euro 2024 qualifier in Tbilisi back in March. The latter watched AC Milan keep him quiet and record a surprise win in the Champions League quarter-final in April.
“I was at the first leg game in the San Siro,” he said. “Davide Calabria, their right back, had the game of his life and kept him really quiet. As the season has gone on teams have found it easier to do that. Maybe teams figured him out, maybe he tired at the end of what has been the longest season in history. He certainly wasn’t as effective towards the end as he was at the start.
“There were a few teams who doubled up on him. They had their full-back man marking him and a midfielder stopping him from darting inside. It didn’t happen for him to the same degree. But I don’t think he was as fresh either. Just now is probably a good time for Scotland to face him. He has played almost every game.”
Kevkishvili, though, stressed that Georgia, who beat Cyprus 2-1 away in their second Group A outing on Saturday night to maintain their unbeaten start, are far more than a one man team. He revealed that the emergence of Kvaratskhelia is not the only reason that supporters are so optimistic about the future.
“When Kvara first broke into the national team before the pandemic, we did not have the supporting cast,” he said. “He was a brilliant individual player who created by himself a lot from the wing. But one player in isolation cannot make a huge difference to a team no matter how good he is.
“The second most productive player last season was Georges Mikautadze. He has just helped Metz win promotion to Ligue 1 in France. He was both the top scorer in Ligue 2 and the MVP. He gives us a lot of hope as well.
“Since Shota, we have not had a front man who is capable of scoring a lot of goals. But we do now with Georges. His style is different from Shota. For me, he is more like Sergio Aguero because of his build and his technical attributes. If he has an opportunity to score, he will take it maybe eight times out of 10. His movement is really good.
“Further back, we have Giorgi Mamardashvili, the Valencia goalkeeper. He is attracting interest from the Premier League in England and I think he will transfer there this summer. When he is in goal, it gives the team more confidence.
“Guram Kashia, the captain and centre half, is older and more experienced. But he has a big role in the build-up play and in the attitude of the team in general. He is a big influence on the young players who have just come into the set-up and are helping Kvaratskhelia.
“Now Kvaratskhelia has good players around him. That is why it is an exciting time for Georgia. This new generation is strong enough to take us to the next level. I don’t expect us to reach the same level as Croatia, England or Spain, but we are capable of being as solid as, say, Poland.”
Kevkishvili added: “At the moment, we lack the experience and tactical awareness we need to beat bigger nations. At this moment, I am personally not sure that we are strong enough and developed enough to overcome Spain, Scotland or Norway.
“I think we are maybe capable of beating Scotland at home in Tbilisi again. We have done so before twice. But I think the game in Glasgow will be very hard for us. You have shown that your football is developing and is very dynamic just now. A draw will be a good result for us, a win will be huge.
“I think finishing third in the group will be massive for us and will give us an important boost of morale and confidence before the Nations League play-offs next spring. That is the best route for us to qualify for the Euro 2024 finals.
“But ambition is growing because of Kvara and the new generation of players. We believe we are really close to achieving what we want and qualifying for a big tournament. I think this team is capable of establishing itself as a force in European football in the next few years and of making the World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.”
Kevkishvili knows that having Willy Sagnol, the former Bayern Munich and France right back, in charge for the last two years has aided Georgia’s development and is confident the Champions League winner will know how to approach the Scotland outing.
"Willy deserves huge credit for the progress which has been made,” he said. “His man management skills are incredible. Over the years, Georgia always had talented players. But coaches struggled to bring them together and make the national team a unit.
“Willy has done it. He is the first manager who has really understood the Georgian mentality. He has created the best environment there has ever been in the squad. Everybody is happy and is working hard for each other.
“Then there is a tactical side. He is very flexible and is doing what he has to with the resources he has. He is a very offensive coach, probably because of his time with France and Bayern Munich. Sagnol will maybe have to change his tactics against Scotland. But I think that he and his coaching staff will be preparing some surprises for them.”
That Georgia will, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia pulling the strings for them, be formidable opponents at Hampden tomorrow night will be no shock to Steve Clarke and his Scotland players.
