Announced as a starter against Ukraine on Thursday evening, Rayan Cherki is transfigured according to Laurent Blanc, his former coach at OL.
It is in the shoes of a starter that Rayan Cherki should find the French team. Five months after celebrating his first two selections, during the Final Four of the Nations League, the young attacking midfielder (22 years old) is expected to start against Ukraine, Thursday evening at the Parc des Princes, as part of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. A new status that the Manchester City player must assume.
“Because of his talent, his ease, he doesn’t put pressure on himself. The love of the game keeps him away from any form of pressure. But for him, somewhere, serious things will beginconfirms Laurent Blanc, who managed him at OL in 2022-2023, in the columns of The Team. We are going to be more and more demanding. He has enough talent to take on the challenge. » A talent that the 1998 world champion has rarely seen in a player.
“I don’t know where it comes from, if it’s from the street, if it’s innate, but talent, he’s full of ithe bursts into flames. I can assure you that there aren’t many players like him. It’s a rare gem. In the media world, are you talking about nuggets? Rayan, that’s it. »
His new coach at the Citizens, Pep Guardiola, is also seduced by the first months of the man he poached this summer for almost 40 million euros.
“Rayan Cherki has changed and for the better”, according to Laurent Blanc
The Skyblues manager says of the ex-Lyonnais that he is
“one of the most talented players” that he had ever seen. “He is exceptional”he says. And the most terrifying thing, observes Laurent Blanc, is that he has improved other aspects of his game. “He has no limits technically. Its limits will be more tactical and physical. Physically, I had the pleasure of seeing him again recently, he has changed and for the better”he notes.
For the former Blues defender, Rayan Cherki is now
“in the world of the great, the very great.” “If tactically he adapts, he will have a lot of advantages. His gift and genius make him a rare player. He needs to find the coach who trusts him. And I think he has it”concludes the “President”. We must now hope for the Blues that the feeling also passes with the French coach, Didier Deschamps.
