THE NETWORK

Achraf Hakimi: Mbappe’s Closest Friend in Football — and What That Friendship Is Worth

Achraf Hakimi joined PSG from Inter Milan in the summer of 2021. Within months, his friendship with Kylian Mbappe had become the most visible personal relationship in French football. They trained together, attended events together, and were photographed together with a frequency that generated tens of millions of social media impressions. By 2023, the Mbappe-Hakimi pairing had become a media unit with its own commercial logic.

A Cross-Brand Commercial Asset

The commercial value of athlete friendships is underanalysed. When two players with combined social media followings above 200 million interact publicly — appearing together in sponsor content, tagging each other, co-attending events — the reach of both brands compounds. Hakimi’s sponsors and Mbappe’s sponsors both benefit from the association. The friendship is genuine. It is also an asset on both balance sheets.

After PSG — The Friendship Survives the Club

When Mbappe left PSG for Real Madrid in 2024, Hakimi remained in Paris. The two players now compete in different leagues and different Champions League groups. The friendship has survived the institutional separation — they continue to interact publicly and privately — which is itself commercially significant. It means the cross-brand association persists without depending on a shared club context.

For the full network profile, see the Mbappe Inner Circle analysis.

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— Victor Blanc | Mbappe Live | Football Business Correspondent