Solid, impressive, stunning… Since his arrival in the French capital, there has been no shortage of adjectives to describe Willian Pacho’s performance at the heart of the Parisian defense. Saturday evening, in Budapest, the Ecuadorian international (34 caps, 2 goals) once again proved his worth despite a slight delay in Kai Havertz’s opener (6th). Powerful in the duel, always well placed, rarely outpaced, the former Frankfurt player – recruited for 40 million euros in the summer of 2024 – is clearly unanimous. Starting alongside the experienced Marquinhos, the native of Quinindé continues his high-level performances.
A reference to his position…
This season, the 1m88 left-hander took part in 44 matches in all competitions (2 goals, 1 assist) and, once again, symbolized the defensive solidity of the double European champions. Present in the typical team for the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season, the one who sees his contract run until June 2029 ultimately has everything a very good deal. Questioned in mid-October about the performances of his protégé, Luis Enrique nevertheless refused to consider him the best defender in the world on the grounds that “to analyze, you have to wait until the end of the season”. But the Spanish technician nevertheless recognized, “only have positive things to say” on his defender.
A speech which clearly should not have changed given the outings made by number 51 of PSG in recent months. Yes, but despite an XXL performance, Willian Pacho continues to suffer from a certain lack of recognition, since the start of his career. During his debut in Ecuador with the Independiente del Valle team, it took him a while to convince. Launched among the pros in November 2019, it took him more than a year before really garnering minutes with his training club. “Willian Pacho was not playing. He was not one of the players who played with Miguel Angel Ramírez, the coach I replaced.recalled Renato Paiva, the first coach to have truly installed him as a starter.
Pacho, what’s the problem?
Before adding: “After about two weeks I started to see that Willian had some unusual qualities for a central defender. Standing almost 1.90m tall, he was very lively and very fast. In handling the ball he was fantastic and he was good in decision making. “It suited my style of play well, where we build from the back with the goalkeeper and the defenders.”. Since then, the person concerned has continued to progress and is establishing himself, as we write these lines, as one of the references to his position. A status which nevertheless still does not allow him to appear at the top of the poster. Absent from the Top 30 Ballon d’Or in 2025 but also from the team of the 2024-2025 season in the Champions League, Pacho was also forgotten from the LdC eleven type during this 2025-2026 exercise.
This Sunday, UEFA published the strong men of this new European campaign and it is finally the Gabriel-Marquinhos duo who appears within the central hinge. A reward that is certainly symbolic but which may raise questions about the treatment reserved for the Ecuadorian. Little known at the time of his arrival in the summer of 2024, the ex-Royal Antwerp player has little to complain about. After having signed a full first season in the colors of the Ile-de-France club with 57 appearances including 17 starts (out of 17 possible) in C1, the rough defender of the Rouge et Bleu has just completed a second season of very high level. Selected with La Tri for the 2026 World Cup (Ecuador will challenge Germany, Curaçao and Ivory Coast in group E), Willian Pacho may ultimately need international exposure to be (finally) recognized for his true worth…
