Florian Wirtz and Rayan Cherki will seemingly be pitted against each other for much of the 2025/2026 season.
With Cherki ready to impress at Manchester City and Wirtz perhaps hoping to do to the same at Liverpool, it will be intriguing to see which out of the two clubs have signed the better attacking midfielder.
All eyes will be on Wirtz next season as journalist Paul Joyce has revealed that the Reds have agreed a £116 million deal with Bayer Leverkusen to sign the German.
On the other hand, Manchester City have signed Cherki for £33 million, who in comparison does not have the weight of the world on his shoulders to take the Premier League by storm.
Jack Wilshere says Florian Wirtz is better than Rayan Cherki
But ultimately, neither players’ respective fees will be a talking point if both Florian Wirtz and Rayan Cherki step up to the plate for both Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
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Being a technically gifted midfielder himself during his playing career, Jack Wilshere was asked who he would start, sub and sell out of Cherki, Wirtz and Matheus Cunha.
Wilshere did not hesitate in selling Cunha, who has sealed a move to Manchester United this summer.
Start, bench, sell: Rayan Cherki, Florian Wirtz, Matheus Cunha 🤔 @socceraid
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As for Cherki and Wirtz, the Englishman opted to bench the Manchester City new-boy and opted to start the Bayer Leverkusen attacker.
Rayan Cherki and Florian Wirtz compared last season
Hugo Viana tipped Cherki to become “world-class” and it seems like City are satisfied that they ended up signing him after missing out on the 22-year-old’s signature.
Based on their statistics from last season, Manchester City would have every reason to disagree with Jack Wilshere and believe that Cherki is a better player than Wirtz.
Rayan Cherki in action for Olympique Lyonnais v Lille
Photo by Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
The French international registered 12 goals and 20 assists (32 goal involvements) for a struggling Lyon side last season while Wirtz’s tally was 31 (16 goals and 15 assists) in a top-class Leverkusen team.
Cherki backs himself to perform under Guardiola and doing so would only silence his doubters.