Cherki celebrates
Cherki celebrates
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Manchester City’s comfortable 5-0 win against Norwich City to progress to the Carabao Cup Fourth Round went as planned.
Floyd Samba was the standout, sparkling on his senior debut with two goals, as Rayan Cherki, debutant Allan and Ryan McAidoo also got themselves on the scoresheet.
Enzo Maresca fielded a heavily rotated side, making 10 changes from the XI that beat Manchester United 1-0 at the weekend. The sole survivor from that team was Cherki, who produced a first-half performance that shows he’s ready to take on a new role in the squad.
At just 23, incredibly, he was the fourth-oldest starting City player behind Geronimo Rulli, Mateo Kovacic and Rayan Ait-Nouri.
But Cherki and the likes of Nico O’Reilly, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Rico Lewis and others have experience beyond their years, so it's easy to forget how young they actually are.
Cherki made his Champions League debut for Lyon in 2019 when he was just 16, and he has already racked up over 200 senior club appearances.
He featured in every match for France during the World Cup and whilst he’d have hoped for a bigger role, the experience gained can only be beneficial to his development.
It was clear in the first half against Norwich that Cherki was dropping deep, even more so than usual, to knit things together in midfield and help his inexperienced counterparts through the game.
At the other end, he showed a new element to his game by attacking space in behind with his goal – running onto a through ball from Bouaddi after Samba held the ball up and finishing emphatically.
The tricks and flicks were still present, particularly as the half wore on, but there was none of the pure showboating that sometimes comes out when City and Cherki are feeling comfortable.
He was replaced at half-time for the second game running, with Maresca no doubt looking ahead to Sunday's Premier League clash with Sunderland.
It’s a stretch to consider him on the same leadership level as Ruben Dias, Erling Haaland, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marc Guehi - all part of the City leadership group - but Cherki showed that he’s ready to lead by example in this sort of game.
Maresca will see signs of encouragement that the 23-year-old is ready to be considered one of his senior players, who can be relied upon to help City progress through these matches with minimal fuss.
When so many experienced stars are rested, Maresca needs players who can step up to fill the leadership void. Cherki can be one of those players.