The New Magician

Every few years, Ligue 1 produces a unique type of player that seems only to ever come out of France. Players like Nabil Fekir and Dimitri Payet who exist to electrify fans, but struggle to ultimately carve their place in modern football.

With Rayan Cherki joining City, will he follow Jack Grealish or perhaps Bernardo Silva? 

France continues to be Europe’s top factory of talent, with Cherki joining a French squad overflowing with talent. The Lyon product becomes yet another of the club’s success stories.

PHOTO: Manchester City/Facebook

For a few seasons now, Cherki bubbled under the radar of promising youngsters waiting for their next chance. Being the only bright spark in what became Lyon’s worst season, the mercurial talent rose to the top. A statistical profile to win over any stats lover, the way he plays the game is even more beautiful than his output.

When Grealish joined City, the vibes felt very similar to Cherki’s arrival. Both players thrilled fans with their silky smooth dribbling. Pep seemed to have found another diamond in Grealish, but the player and manager never understood one another.

Rather than being allowed to play the style that brought him to City, Pep wanted Grealish to be the ultimate role player.

This pertains to be a terrible omen, but as Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden proved, you can still succeed under Pep playing like this.

Having shown flashes of potential in seasons past, Cherki used Lyon’s excellent on-field results to propel him to the top of the transfer market. Cherki spoke about wanting to bring joy back to the sport, and his play truly backs that up.

Gliding across the pitch with the ball glued to his foot, Cherki acted as the ultimate playmaker for Lyon. Every chance came through the academy product, as he pinged impossible-looking passes. When the ball came to him, you felt the entire stadium catch their breath and wait for the magician.

When evaluating flashy players like this creative hub, their statistical profile becomes the ultimate test.

To the surprise of no one, Cherki finished last season as one of the best creative wingers in football.

At the top of the chart of almost every passing and chance creation stat, no other player contributed as much as Cherki did to his team. 

An elite dribbler and passer, this combination makes him the ultimate threat, especially when paired alongside a sensational striker. Cherki is the player who elevates an offense, being the ultimate plug-and-play creator.

One of Europe’s underrated talent factories, Lyon continues to identify raw players and mold them into professionals. Nabil Fekir, a very similar player to Cherki, came out of Lyon’s academy a promising player who needed to find his role. Honing his ability to create from chaos, Fekir should have had a better career, but unlike Cherki, he stayed at Lyon for too long.

Dimitri Payet and Hatem Ben Arfa are two other players who fit Cherki’s mold and made the move from Ligue 1 to the Prem. Payet still remains one of the best one-season wonders, but Ben Arfa was more or less run out of town. Both players found ways to succeed in the Prem, but their skillset is better suited for a league that embraces that creativity.

While Florian Wirtz stole the show under Xabi Alonso, Cherki didn’t trail him by much.

A bit of a throwback, Cherki brings fans back to an era where the sport felt more free.

In front of the French international lay two paths, that of Grealish and of Foden and Silva. All are immensely talented players, but only two of them grew into Pep’s system.

Cherki grew in recent seasons, but at the time, he promised to be the piece that would unlock City’s potential. A creative hub that electrified Villa for years, Grealish fit the mold of creators who succeeded under the Spaniard. With Haaland in front of him, that partnership should have succeeded.

Instead, Pep soured on the English international early on, with Grealish doing nothing to help his case. Being forced to play a more limited role, he became a role player rather than the team’s centerpiece. His numbers declined as a result, as Pep moved further and further from the mercurial talent. 

By the end of last season, Grealish had become a bit player for City. Unlike Grealish, both Foden and Silva still contribute to the team.

Foden filled the role that Cherki is being brought in to help with, despite their similar ages. One of the best aspects of Foden’s game remains his ability to adapt to different positions. Cherki plays better on the wings, like Foden, but proved competent enough to fill in the middle.

Similarly, Silva arrived as a pure winger but slowly evolved into a jack-of-all-trades. While asking Cherki to play this role robs him of his special skills, this fits into what Pep expects. Especially with a City squad at risk of failing to keep up with Liverpool, the Spaniard needs Cherki to contribute.

Both Foden and Silva laid out the blueprints for being successful as a winger under Pep.

However, as Grealish showed, Pep’s leash is increasingly smaller.

Cherki’s explosion reminded fans of the players who dominated the late 2000s—elegant wingers who carved the pitch to their will.

An almost extinct playstyle, but Cherki is dragging them back to relevance.

PHOTO: Manchester City/Facebook