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“To win the Ballon d’Or and the Champions League,” came the response from Rayan Cherki to the Lyon academy director Jean-François Vulliez’s question. Even as a 15-year-old the playmaker was ambitious, knowing his talent would take him to the top. He might have expected to reach the Premier League earlier but he is ready to take the next steps at Manchester City.
Vulliez worked at Lyon for 12 years and from the moment he witnessed an eight-year-old Cherki he knew the club had a glorious talent on their hands. This week City paid £30.5m for the France international, who could make his debut against Wydad AC on Wednesday at the Club World Cup. Lyon’s academy coaches were soon gossiping about the two-footed generational talent who dribbled past opponents, created chances and plundered goals in the youth setup.
“He was a special player when he was young because he was able to play with both feet,” Vulliez says. “He loves football and he loves to play. I think it’s special because he just wants to play football and challenge opponents, one against one, one against two, and score goals. When he was young it was very amazing because his technical level was very high and he’s able to do many things with the ball.”
Coaches would set drills for Cherki but he put his own spin on things because his technical ability was above that of his peers, powered by self-confidence as he made his way as a throwback to the mavericks of yesterday. He felt the need to show off and those trying to impart knowledge could not be too upset that he disobeyed orders by turning a finishing session into something akin to performance art, scoring from crosses with tricks and flicks, when the others were doing their best to sidefoot the ball home.
Aged 15 – and playing four year groups up – Cherki was part of a talented Lyon Uefa Youth League side that beat Manchester City 4-1 in England, helped by his coming off the bench to score. Lyon realised he had outgrown the academy and pushed him to play with the first team aged 16. The talent was there but Cherki, a viral sensation thanks to clips of his balletic qualities, did not immediately know how to utilise it effectively in Ligue 1.
Manchester United were rumoured to be keen at that time and Lyon had to fight hard to keep Cherki, requiring the then president, Jean-Michel Aulas, to convince him his hometown club was the best place for him. Many clubs have kept an eye on Cherki, including tracking his stats and highlights reels, but it has taken almost six years since his first-team debut for the playmaker to be lured across the Channel. There was some concern at Lyon about the size of Cherki’s entourage and whether they provided a distraction. Many close to him wanted to push through an earlier exit but Lyon insisted he stayed until this summer despite offers in January.
As a natural entertainer, Cherki was eager to show his flamboyance in the first team but he needed to work out how to utilise his skills and make more right decisions than wrong against experienced opponents. He has learned from the early mistakes, his goal contributions improving each season.
“He was very resilient because he was very young,” says Vulliez. “Adidas was his sponsor and everybody talked about him on social media. It was difficult for him because when he started in the first team he was not very efficient because he played like a young player in the professional league and so he failed. Sometimes the fans smashed him so it was difficult for him but he was always focused on training and on football.
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“[Alexandre] Lacazette and [Corentin] Tolisso helped him a lot to become a real professional player. They taught him and he learned a lot with them and I think it was great for him because I think in Lyon he found a balance with his family and with the players inside the professional team who can teach him. He needed three or four years to become a great player like today.”
Pep Guardiola has shaken things up at City in recent months, signing eight players as he attempts to revitalise the team, with Rayan Aït-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders among others hoping to make their debut in the US. Cherki’s ability to beat opponents in tight spaces and create chances made him an obvious candidate to reinvigorate and ignite a team that often looked short of ideas in the final third in the past season. Cherki can play anywhere in Guardiola’s front four, having often been utilised as a central striker in his youth, but his favoured role is No 10. He scored 12 goals and created 20 for Lyon during the past season, which is encouraging news for Erling Haaland.
“It was a long time but now the maturity is coming, psychological maturity, and now I think he’s a new player and it’s a big step now for him,” says Vulliez. “Last season was a big step and the new season will be a very big step at Manchester City.” Cherki is still chasing those dreams and together he and City could achieve some ambitious objectives.
