Yeah, he can. Watch his games under Lampard, or browse the match threads here, and relive the angst as James put in perfect crosses that remained unfinished because we lacked players attacking the ball in the box. The same goes for his time at Wigan. He's also one of the few players that can actually put in a good cross from deep too. I agree he needs competition, and I probably am in the minority here but I maintain his best position will either be at RCB in a back three, or defensive midfield in a back four.
I like Hakimi, he's obviously extremely quick and also he's quite good on the ball. I love the idea of another two-way player, who like Kante, can use their exceptional speed to be present in both attack and defense. But, his 10 assists in Serie A, when viewed in the context of having a top-class striker in a dominant team in a very defensively poor league - as well as the fact he played as a winger/attacking mid at times - needs to be taken with a grain of salt. He was disappointing at Champions' League level too, with just the one assist and some pretty anonymous performances.
There's no doubt he is a world-class wing-back, but that's a somewhat niche position. To date he's been merely above-average when played as a winger or fullback in a 4-at-the-back system. At 40-50m he's worth an investment, but at the prices being quoted i'm not so sure, only because we don't really have a forward line who complement his attacking strengths.
