Hakimi, alongside Ligue 1 Uber Eats quartet Azzedine Ounahi, Sofiane Boufal (both Angers SCO), Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse FC) and Achraf Dari (Stade Brestois 29), have powered the Atlas Lions to new heights, and they are hoping to add France's scalp to their collection having already claimed Spain's and Portugal's in Qatar.

Followers of French football might not be too surprised to have seen Hakimi performing - he boasts seven goals, nine assists, one Ligue 1 Uber Eats title and a Trophée des Champions since joining PSG from Inter Milan in the summer of 2021 - but he and his countrymen have found a new gear at the World Cup.

Back story:

Hakimi was actually born in the Spanish capital of Madrid to Moroccan parents on 4 November 1998, thus sharing a birthdate with Luis Figo and the NSA, and he has been unlocking opposition defences almost as easily as either of those in the time since.

He joined Real Madrid as an eight-year-old in 2006, progressing with their Castilla side before making his first-team debut under Zinédine Zidane in 2017. But with Dani Carvajal blocking his path to regular first-team football he left on loan for Borussia Dortmund in 2018 before joining Inter at that deal's conclusion in 2020.

One Serie A title win later and Hakimi - who by this time was four years into his Morocco career having spurned Spain - joined PSG in a €60 million deal the summer before last. He is now a league winner in two countries, having picked up trophies in four.

Style of play:

Hakimi may start at right-back in a 4-3-3 for his country, but 36 goals and 46 assists in his senior career to date are the story of a player who loves nothing better than breaking forward from deep to either score of set up a colleague to do so instead.

Hakimi is in the 99th percentile for progressive passes received in Ligue 1 Uber Eats over the last year, averaging five per game - which tells you how far up the pitch his average position is - but also for his pass completion which stands at nearly 90 per cent.

Watch: Highlights of PSG's 7-1 win over Lille

Current campaign:

Hakimi has been PSG's most-used "defender" this season apart from their captain Marquinhos, starting 12 of his 14 games and relegating Nordi Mukiele, a summer arrival from RB Leipzig, to the bench.

He scored his first goal for the campaign in PSG's opening day 5-0 win over Clermont Foot, and has since added strikes in a 7-1 destruction of LOSC and a 5-0nthrashing of AJ Auxerre.

What they said:

"One day my father picked me up from school and gave me a letter inviting me to a trial session [at Real]. At first, I couldn't believe it and asked him if the letter was really real. After he confirmed it, I just thought: 'Oh my God, how cool is that?!' I'll never forget this day, it all started for me."

- Hakimi on his early steps in the game.

"ACHRAF HAKIMI. BEST RB IN THE WORLD."

- Kylian Mbappé, who will come up against Hakimi directly on Wednesday, on Twitter in January.