🚨 Emergency Broadcast: Rayan Cherki joins Manchester City

Rayan Cherki is a Premier League player. Drink it in.

The transfer window is back and so is the SCOUTED Emergency Broadcast. While legacy media has the window impossibly well covered, we still think there are places we can add context, nuance and valuable discussion - usually on players you can be sure we’ve been following for years, before most mainstream eyes turned their way.

To mark the return of our summer series, we could think of no better player than Rayan Cherki, who has now officially found his way to Manchester City.

What we've said about Rayan Cherki

Tom Curren, Llew Davies

SCOUTED began tracking Rayan Cherki sometime in his teenage years, as he turned eyes in youth tournaments like the UEFA Youth League and in senior performances well before his time. Our notes from that period are difficult to find, but we know for sure we were watching him because, as some of you might remember, he was the cover star for our 11th issue of the Handbook, published in 2021.

Llew covered Cherki’s rise in that issue, saying of his breakout: “A big reputation as the standout of his generation as he rose through the youth teams preceded him; legitimate excellence at various under-age levels, not least against teams made up of players three years his senior in the UEFA Youth League, fuelled further hype; and multiple first-team appearances at 16 years old only intensified the excitement.”

For a player so obviously talented, Cherki’s breakout was somewhat stuttered. “After his initial breakthrough into the senior side during the COVID-curtailed 2019/20 campaign, Cherki built on those firm footings but perhaps not to the level many predicted. Last season saw him play just under 1,000 minutes across 30 appearances, with Rudi Garcia restricting him to regular runs off the substitutes’ bench. His big breakout still beckons, and the conditions are there for it to happen this season […] Cherki may not be the next Benzema, but he is the best prospect since.”

As for how we saw his future? That makes for interesting reading: “Cherki definitely needs to improve defensively. He is an adequate presser when engaged, but that engagement is prone to slipping regularly throughout matches, and he is too focused on the ball in general.

“For all the excitement and hope, there is a nagging sense that the 18-year-old may need to escape the relatively comfortable settings of Lyon to fulfil his elite-level potential. Maybe the precipice of stardom is as far as his boyhood club can take him. Maybe he needs a push in an alien environment to make that next leap. If that is the case, it would be a shame. Entities like Cherki are what make clubs like Olympique Lyonnais great. Like Benzema, local boys, cut from the diverse and cultured city cloth, that become icons at their local clubs is part of what makes football great. We should all hope that Cherki follows in those footsteps.”

What kind of player is Rayan Cherki?

Jake Entwistle

Rayan Cherki is one of the most technically gifted players you will ever see. Completely and utterly two-footed, Cherki usually operates from a starting position on the right before roaming and wrecking havoc across the entire width of the pitch thanks to his immense control and balance. He does everything using either foot: receiving, manipulating, passing, shooting, the lot.