FEATURE | ‘He has huge ability and huge potential to improve and become one of the best defenders in the world’ – the rise of PSG’s Ilia Zabarnyi | OneFootball

How do you improve on perfection? That’s precisely the question that Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique and sporting director Luís Campos attempted to answer this past summer. Les Parisiens had grown accustomed to blockbuster summer transfer windows, having spent €170m on four new players the previous summer and just over €400 million on 14 different players in the summer of 2023. However, after a 2024/25 season that saw them win a second-straight domestic treble and a maiden UEFA Champions League title, as well as reach the inaugural final of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, Campos and Enrique decided that only minor tweaks were necessary rather than an ambitious squad refurbishment.

The club’s primary focus was to offload the sizeable wages of their returning loanees who had no place in the first team, with Nordi Mukiele, Marco Asensio, Milan Skriniar and Carlos Soler being sold on a permanent basis, while Renato Sanches was sent on his third consecutive loan spell, to Greek side Panathinaikos. Promising young talents Naoufel El Hannach and Gabriel Moscardo were sent out on loan to Montpellier HSC and Braga, Randal Kolo Muani went from plying his trade out on loan at Juventus to doing so at Tottenham Hotspur, and Presnel Kimpembe departed his boyhood club after two decades and joined Qatar SC on a free transfer.

In terms of incomings, PSG only signed three new players. Renato Marin joined on a free transfer from Roma and replaced Arnau Tenas, who departed for Villarreal for €2.5m, as the club’s third-choice goalkeeper. There was also a changing of the guard in the starting goalkeeper position, with PSG deciding to sell Gianluigi Donnarumma to Manchester City for €30m after a world-class campaign that saw him win his second Yashin Trophy and excel on all fronts; in his place came Lille OSC’s Lucas Chevalier for €40m. Over half of PSG’s transfer expenditure went to one player – Ilia Zabarnyi – who arrived from Bournemouth for €63m, making him the 10th-most expensive PSG signing of all time and the second-most expensive defender after Achraf Hakimi (€68m).

Zabarnyi establishes himself at Bournemouth

Born in Kyiv, Zabarnyi came through the youth ranks at Dynamo Kyiv and quickly established himself as a vital cog at the back, helping them win the Ukrainian Premier League and Ukrainian Cup in 2020/21 as well as the 2020 Ukrainian Super Cup and being named the best U-19 talent in Ukraine in 2020 and 2021. But when Russia invaded in February 2022, Zabarnyi left his native Ukraine.

Zabarnyi joined Premier League side Bournemouth in January 2023 and gradually bided his time as the Cherries narrowly staved off the drop in their return to the top-flight. However, the arrival of new manager Andoni Iraola in the summer of 2023 would see him emerge as an indispensable figure in the centre of the defence, playing the full 90 in 37 out of 38 matches and helping them finish 12th in the table. Similar to other players like Mohamed Simakan, Diadie Samassekou, and Jules Koundé, Zabarnyi has flourished thanks to a tenacious willingness to chase down possession and get stuck in with a crunching tackle, setting his feet and getting just the right type of contact to win the ball without giving away fouls. Moreover, his sturdy physical build, aerial prowess, and impressive timing of his jumps has enabled him to come out on top in aerial duels, thus allowing his club to hold a high line without worrying about getting caught out with a long ball.

Despite losing his centre-back partner Marcos Senesi due to injury after a few months, Zabarnyi was able to build on his momentum in 2024/25 and mark his presence as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League, forming a rock-solid duo alongside Dean Huijsen as Bournemouth finished ninth in the table. Fast-forward to today, Huijsen and Zabarnyi are now playing for the last two Champions League winners.

“It’s funny because I remember seeing Zabarnyi about five years ago when we were playing a U-21 Euro qualifier, and we were playing together in defence. He was 18 or 19, he was a young guy trying to build his name and go to the first team, and suddenly, ‘Boom, he starts playing every game for Dynamo Kyiv, gets a transfer to Bournemouth and is now at PSG, so I think that says it all about him,” stated Columbus Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko in an exclusive Get French Football News interview. Cheberko made his Ukraine debut on October 7, 2020, coming on at halftime in a 7-1 friendly defeat vs. France and playing in central defence alongside Zabarnyi. He made his second appearance nearly five years later, starting alongside Zabarnyi and playing 66 minutes in a 2-1 friendly win vs. New Zealand on June 10, 2025.

‘I think he has huge ability’ – Cheberko

“I think he has huge ability and huge potential to improve and become one of the best defenders in the world, but the best thing is that when I last saw him in Canada, he’s the same guy that I saw five years ago. Maybe he’s bigger and stronger, maybe he’s playing more football, but as a human being, he’s still such a nice guy who tries to help if he can. He’s a nice human being and a great football player,” said Cheberko.

After making yet another one of his 53 appearances for Ukraine, Zabarnyi patiently waited as Bournemouth and PSG fought it out in a transfer saga that lasted the entirety of the summer. Having already sold two vital cogs in defence with Milos Kerkez and Huijsen, as well as losing starting goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga following his loan return, it seemed that Bournemouth were going to dig their heels in and keep hold of their Ukrainian defender. However, the events of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Final forced their hand; with Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez both suspended, PSG were forced to rely on fourth-choice centre back Lucas Beraldo to play alongside Marquinhos in central defence, and they ended up getting burned with a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in New Jersey.

They finalised the signing of Zabarnyi on a five-year contract on August 12, with the club’s first-ever Ukrainian player making his debut just five days later and partnering Beraldo in their Ligue 1 opener as PSG eked out a narrow 1-0 win in Nantes. He was dropped to the bench in the following match, with Luis Enrique preferring the tried and trusted pairing of Pacho and Marquinhos, before playing the full 90 in the next three matches alongside Beraldo. After coming on for the final quarter-hour of their 4-0 win vs. Atalanta, Zabarnyi returned to the starting XI and operated in a back three alongside Marquinhos and Pacho as PSG fell 1-0 to Marseille. The following match would see both Zabarnyi and Beraldo find the back of the net in a 2-0 win vs. Auxerre, with the latter dropping out for Pacho in their following trip to Barcelona.

A mixed bag against Strasbourg

Stepping up in the absence of PSG’s Brazilian captain Marquinhos, Zabarnyi delivered a Man of the Match performance against the likes of Lamine Yamal, Marcus Rashford, Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, winning five out of six ground duels and three out of four tackles, as well as two recoveries and blocked shots apiece and one goal-line clearance as PSG left Spain with a 2-1 victory. However, he was back on the bench in the following match, with Pacho and Beraldo starting in a 1-1 draw at Lille.

Zabarnyi’s performance against RC Strasbourg Alsace on Friday night was mixed, but one thing’s for sure: at 23 years of age, Zabarnyi has everything it takes to become one of the best centre-backs in the world.

GFFN | Zach Lowy