for Kinkladze to move to Mretebi Tbilisi, the first openly professional club in the Soviet Union. Mretebi Tbilisi were a smaller club playing at a lower level, but the move gave Kinkladze the opportunity to play first team football instead of playing for Dinamo's second team. Kinkladze made his professional debut aged 16, and immediately became a first team regular. In 1991 Kinkladze's Mretebi won the Pirveli Liga, and won promotion to the highest division following a play-off. After a season in the top flight with Mretebi, Kinkladze was signed by Dinamo Tbilisi, the team he represented as a youth, for one million roubles. In September 1992, shortly after signing for Dinamo, Kinkladze made his senior international debut, aged 19. The match, against Azerbaijan, was the Georgian national side's fourth since breaking from the Soviet Union in 1991. Kinkladze's youth-level teammate Shota Arveladze also played in the match, and Kinkladze provided an assist for a goal by Arveladze. In Kinkladze's first season at the club, Dinamo won a league and cup double. However, due to the ongoing Georgian Civil War, during 1993 the Dinamo Tbilisi management sought to put their players in a more stable environment. As part of this, Kinkladze was sent on loan to 1. FC Saarbrücken in Germany. Kinkladze made his Saarbrücken debut in a 2. Bundesliga match against Tennis Borussia Berlin, a 2–2 draw on 4 March 1994. He was unable to settle into the side at Saarbrücken, rarely playing a full 90 minutes, and was sent off in a 1–3 defeat to Hertha Berlin. At the end of the season, Kinkladze returned to Tbilisi to resume his career in Georgia, where he was named the national Player of the Year for 1993. Dinamo president Merab Jordania was still uncomfortable with Kinkladze playing in Georgia amid political instability, and offered the player to Atlético Madrid for approximately £200,000; they gave him a trial, but no contract. He then trained with Real Madrid's reserves, where he caught the eye of Boca Juniors scouts, who took him to Argentina for a month's loan. Kinkladze met his childhood hero Diego Maradona, but did not gain a permanent contract, as manager Silvio Marzolini regarded him as too similar to Boca's Argentine international playmaker Alberto Márcico. In September 1994, Kinkladze was part of the Georgian team that played Moldova in Tbilisi. Italian clubs became interested in Kinkladze after seeing footage of