Why has nobody signed Rayan Cherki yet?
21-year-odl Rayan Cherki is undeniably one of the most talented players in world football at the moment. This is his first season as a bona fide starter for Lyon after a couple of years of inconsistency and injuries and he has more than shown his worth.
Everyone knew the talent was there; it was just a question of if he could show it game-in, game-out on the pitch. This season the Frenchman has put those questions to bed with 26 goal contributions in 35 games, but what is even more impressive than this if you just watch him – you’d see the once-in-a-generation type of player we’re dealing with. Every game, there will be at least 4 or 5 instances where he does something on the pitch where you can’t help but laugh to yourself because what he has just done, insanity.
In my opinion, there aren’t many who are better to watch in Europe than the Lyon attacking midfielder and he has the potential to truly be one of the best in the world. What I can’t wrap my head around is the fact that he is only available for £21 million due to Lyon being utterly broke and needing to sell and yet nobody has snapped him up yet. When Spurs were heavily linked in the summer, the rumours coming out were he had off-the-pitch issues which made him less desirable to Daniel Levy and Ange, and reports insinuated that other top clubs had done their due diligence and came back with the same answers – Cherki is a bit of a prick off the pitch. Whether this is through his attitude towards or constant fallouts with managers, this is seen as a big problem. There is also a belief that Cherki doesn’t work hard enough out of possession, which I believe is a slight myth
The thing is though, this genuinely shouldn’t matter. Cherki’s talent alone makes him worth upwards of 60 million quid and he’s sat there waiting to be snapped up for a third of the price. He’s an old-school maverick of yesteryear; any manager that thinks they’ve got a bit should be demanding their owner deliver them Cherki at their front doorstep. They should willingly accept the challenge of dealing with a player with this level of talent because if you can man-manage him correctly and get a tune out him, whilst surrounding him with talented and hard-working players - the ceiling of your side shoots up three fold.
Players of this quality don’t grow on trees. Your favourite ‘up-and-coming’ youngster, Cherki, is better than them. Ballon d’Or level talent is what we’re talking about and clubs are turning their back because managers are scared to deal with a bit of personality and individuality. Expressionism in football is a dying art. Cherki is a throwback to the number 10s who reigned supreme in the 2000s - the likes of Riquelme and Del Piero, who were eternal providers of magic and entertainment for spectators.
If Rayan Cherki isn’t regarded as one of the best in the world in a few years time, it will be a depressing indicator to all fans that art in football is on its deathbed.
