Rayan Cherki has become the talk of the town across world football after his virtuosic cameo against Spain in France’s latest 5-4 defeat as he scored a screamer and set up Randal Kolo Muani’s goal.
Cherki confirmed his impending move to Manchester City after the contest, which sparked even more headlines as he showed the world why he is truly a special player.
While the Frenchman’s outstanding talent is not a secret amongst fans and pundits alike, he is still a relatively unknown commodity in English football.
With Cherki being keen to join Manchester City, it looks likely that he will introduce himself to the English game soon.
Photo by Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
Photo by Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
Alexandre Lacazette reveals Man City target Rayan Cherki “works really hard”
One man who knows Rayan Cherki inside and out is his Lyon teammate Alexandre Lacazette.
While Manchester City are huge admirers of Cherki as a player, Lacazette knows what his countryman is like as a character.
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The former Arsenal striker told Le Parisien that the 21-year-old is a hard worker behind the scenes, despite hearing several “negative” stories about him before re-signing for Lyon in 2022: “What people might not know is Rayan works really hard behind the scenes. He puts in a lot of extra training to stay fit and maintain a very healthy lifestyle.”
“Before I met him, there were a lot of preconceived ideas, mostly negative, a lot of questions, too. From what I saw on TV, he was clearly a huge talent, and I kept wondering why he wasn’t getting more playing time.”
Thierry Henry lauded Cherki’s rise, as did Lacazette for his stellar performances during the 2024/2025 season, where the youngster amassed 12 goals and 20 assists in all competitions.
RAYAN CHERKI STATS LAST SEASON
STARTS 34
GOALS 12
ASSISTS 20
“This 2024/25 season has been incredible. It’s like something clicked in his mind over the summer, like he finally understood what he could bring to the team…The key factor, I think, was this mindset: ‘If I make the team shine, I’ll shine too.’
What Man City have been doing to check on Cherki’s personality
Cherki believes he is ready for Manchester City and judging by Lacazette’s judgement of his work ethic and character, it seems like he is at the stage of his career to take the next step.
Kylian Mbappe hailed Cherki’s talent but several prodigies have fallen by the wayside in the past.
But it seems like the Lyon midfielder is cut from a different cloth.
Manchester City have conducted background checks about Cherki to assess what his character is like, as per journalist David Ornstein: “There have been some questions, fairly or not about his character, it’s not for me to say, he’s actually addressed them publicly. But you don’t get into the France picture without being a pretty solid personality and City would have done their due diligence on him, it goes without saying in terms of conversations with people that know him, people that have worked with him, with him personally.”
Ornstein added: “None of City’s signings come without Pep Guardiola’s blessing and so, presumably, he’s been in some of this dialogue.”