Rayan Cherki has made a habit of surprising opponents this season. It’s part of what makes the Manchester City playmaker so irresistible.
Opponents often have little idea what he’s going to do, meaning the watching public has next to no chance. All they can do is move to the edge of their seats.
So what has surprised Pep Guardiola about Cherki, the player he so often bombards with on-field conversation after matches and the main spark for City’s springtime title charge in the Premier League?
As has often been the case during his press conferences over recent months, a relaxed Guardiola took the opportunity to crack a joke when asked this question. For plenty of amateur sleuths, this means the Catalan tactician is either definitely leaving City at the end of the season or definitely staying.
“On Instagram right now, he is making boxing. That was a surprise for me, I didn’t expect it,” Guardiola said, referring to recently resurfaced viral footage of Cherki showcasing impressive skills and handspeed on the pads at the Cross Counter gym in his native Lyon, under the guidance of trainer Fays Abouqasim. It’s not the first time the City manager has amusingly undermined his claims that he is not on social media.
Guardiola continued: “Have you watched it? Go, he is top. I will not discuss with him; he will play every game. Honestly. He’s scary.”
Cherki the boxer looks a lot like you’d imagine him to look when turning his hand to any sport. Slick, flashy, working a little off the cuff, excellent feet. But the fact that he was in a boxing gym in his spare time in the first place also points to an element of the 22-year-old’s character that is often overlooked when discussing the “maverick” or the “artist” gracing England’s pitches and primed to shine for France in North America this summer.
Is Rayan Cherki a maverick?
“There are certain things we say about players that sound good, but are probably a little bit rude because it leaves a bit of space for criticism,” former Manchester City and Real Salt Lake defender Nedum Onuoha told The Sporting News.
“The idea of being a maverick means you’re just doing your own thing, but that’s not what he’s doing. He has to work hard to be in any Pep Guardiola team because Pep has replaced better players than him in the past and will do it again at some point in the future. So it’s the work that he puts in, the understanding of the game, and the patience that he has. He’s not just doing stuff for the sake of it, for the most part.
“The fact that he’s right and left-footed means he’s always looking for a shot, looking to create a chance, looking to get on the ball, but not dropping in to the centre-half to touch it for the sake of it. He stays patient. He’s actually a really good professional who understands his role.”
An already largely forgotten example that stands out for Onuoha came during City’s 1-1 draw at West Ham in March, still the most recent time they dropped points in their pursuit of Arsenal heading into Monday’s match at Everton.
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How many assists does Rayan Cherki have?
Cherki came off the bench and almost immediately played Erling Haaland through on goal at the London Stadium. In terms of assists (10), expected assists (7.83) and through balls (24), Cherki is second only to the Premier League’s leading creator Bruno Fernandes this season. The Manchester United star has played more than 1,200 minutes more than the man across town.
Anyway, after he played Haaland through, City struggled and even faced down the prospect of defeat against a West Ham team fighting for their lives.
“West Ham were pushing on whenever they could, thinking they could still win it,” Onuoha recalled. There was a point where Jarrod Bowen had Cherki squared up 1v1 on the edge of City’s box. Cherki was back there defending it, read it, tackled him, and then brought the ball forward to start the next attack.
“If that is a maverick, he’s not there. That’s somebody who’s working hard for the team and puts the work in defensively. That didn’t even get mentioned because we were talking about the wider context of a result. But right there, I saw a professional’s professional.
“Cherki’s got physicality. And that’s something that I think the manager trusts and something that’s suited to being consistent on a week-to-week basis in the Premier League. He might have a day when some of his passes don’t work out, but you’re not going to push him over. You’re not going to physically dominate him because he’s quick, he’s strong. He’s direct, and he can hold you off when he’s got the ball at his feet.”
This analysis is at odds with the attractive and mounting perception that Cherki – despite his lavish technical gifts and capacity to slow down and speed up attacks in the way his manager adores – is not a typical Guardiola player, that he’s a man operating outside the system for football’s most famous systems coach. Guardiola and Cherki, so the tale goes, are succeeding despite one another. The City manager would be tearing his hair out if he had any left.
MORE: ‘Very Neymar, very Ronaldinho’: A Brazilian take on Rayan Cherki’s Man City vs. Arsenal showboating
What is a typical Pep Guardiola player?
“That’s a good question! That’s one to ask you, what is my typical player?” Guardiola beamed as he batted this enquiry back to reporters before the Everton match. Ilkay Gundogan and Lionel Messi were ventured by one of the journalists in the room.
“Yeah. Give me other ones,” Guardiola went on.
“I don’t have typical players, as much as they love to sell [the idea that Cherki] is not my typical player… not bad, eh, for the first season, what he is doing.
“I don’t believe in that. I remember when I was in Barcelona, Barcelona have a DNA that’s special. Oh? No. You are a good player or not a good player. Strong here [in the head] or not strong here.
“If you are a good player, strong here, you can play in all the big teams in the world. And normally, the big teams are the ones with the top, top managers. Of course, he can play my style, my type. All the players I have here are my type of players, all of them.”
Rayan Cherki’s Man City shirt number
A game against Everton brings the previous City player to receive the Cherki treatment into the conversation. Jack Grealish was loaned to Everton at the start of this season after his form and fitness fell apart in the two years that followed City’s 2022/23 treble campaign. Cherki took his No. 10 jersey.
When Grealish’s Everton performances won him the Premier League Player of the Month award in August last year, talk of him being freed of Guardiola’s shackles was commonplace. The sight of Cherki thriving in a Guardiola team, while Grealish sits with his future uncertain and a season curtailed by injury, perhaps paints a more accurate picture grounded in trust and reliability. A technically superb player turning up time after time for Guardiola – as Grealish did in spring 2023 and as Cherki is doing now – will not become a problem if they do the odd rabona here and there.
“I want the best for Jack. I know the impact [at Everton] was really good,” Guardiola said. “Playing the minutes that he had in the treble season… in the treble season, he was extraordinary. After that, maybe I didn’t help him, or maybe we could not reach the level that he had. He needs game, game, game. At Everton, he had that. Unfortunately, he got injured, but hopefully he can recover and next season can continue to play.”
Asked whether Grealish could return to his best, Guardiola added: “It depends on him. It depends absolutely on him. On the quality, there is no doubt. Everything is there.”
That’s one of Guardiola’s mantras, one he rolls out in the name of tough love for the players he knows are special. Sergio Aguero, Phil Foden and Grealish have heard it in the past. This season, he’s said it more than once about Cherki. As City face up to chasing Arsenal with no margin for error, there is a sense that they depend on their genius playmaker with an underrated tough streak more than anyone else.