Wonderkid branded 'genius' by teammates - now he could sign for Liverpool or Man United

You know you’re probably pretty good at football when your England international team-mate calls you “a genius”, “a wizard” and “the best natural talent” he has ever seen. Not that Rayan Cherki would have needed too many hints that he was a special player given that half of the Premier League is currently trying to sign him this summer.

The 21-year-old Cherki has been linked with a wide range of clubs. ESPN recently suggested that Liverpool and Bayern Munich were the favourites to make a move, while reports elsewhere have named Manchester United, Newcastle, Arsenal and even Crystal Palace. Sufficed to say that Cherki is in demand. But is he really a genius – and how far can the Frenchman go?

Why Liverpool & Manchester United are both interested in Rayan Cherki

Cherki’s name has been on the lips of talent scouts for a while now, but it was in the 2022/23 season that the Lyon winger, who came through the French club’s prolific academy, first grabbed wider headlines.

Across 21 Ligue 1 starts, Cherki bagged four goals and six assists and started to flash his preternatural dribbling skills. With a lightning change of pace and the guts to take defenders on, Cherki was a freewheeling talent who demonstrated the capacity to break defences down all on his own.

This season, Cherki has stepped up his performances further still. After scoring in Thursday’s Europa League draw with Manchester United, one of his alleged suitors, he has 28 starts to his name in all competitions, and 28 goal contributions – 10 goals and 18 assists. It’s a formidable record by any standards, and has his colleagues purring their praise.

“He is the best natural talent I've ever seen," his team-mate and former Arsenal utility man Ainsley Maitland-Niles said this week. "An absolute master, a wizard with the ball… He is taking chances, assists and dragging us up the pitch by taking people on and nutmegging them - he is a genius.

“He is two-footed, has no fear, keeps going and going, can get past people with such ease, such finesse… [Cherki] has gone to another level this season."

High praise from a man who has played alongside many of Arsenal’s modern greats and who has five England caps. If Cherki is even more naturally gifted than Bukayo Saka or Harry Kane and has the production to back that claim up, then it’s no wonder that so many clubs are keen.

Some managers may prefer more disciplined players – although Cherki’s work off the ball, a sore point in past scouting reports, has certainly improved – but while the Frenchman is much more of an individualist than a system player, he has tight ball control, a freakish change of direction and seemingly limitless daring. Watching him is a joy, and now the goals and assists are following in volume.

Lyon would probably love to keep hold of their star asset, but the club’s severe financial issues may render that impossible. The club have already been provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 as a result of the scale of their unpaid debt and there will almost certainly be a summer fire sale in order to get the bank balance back on track and to try to persuade the French footballing authorities to give them a reprieve.

In short, a player who has been singled out for his immense natural talent for years is now both blossoming into an immensely dangerous wide forward and is very much up for sale. Small wonder, then, that Liverpool and Manchester United are both keen.

Is Cherki ready for the Premier League this summer?

Of course, plenty of players have thrived in France or within slightly gentler league systems and gone on to struggle in the Premier League. The bruising physicality of England’s top flight has derailed many promising careers – but Cherki likely has the chops to handle it.

He offered some hints of likely success when playing for France’s Under-21s in a hugely entertaining 5-3 win over England’s Young Lions in March. Against a team full of rising Premier League stars, not only did Cherki provide two goals but even danced around Jarrad Branthwaite with insouciant ease to score himself.

Cherki’s tendency to showboat may cause him to come a cropper on occasion – just check out the clip below of him controlling a cross-field pass with his instep behind his standing leg and just imagine how some of England’s more rugged old defenders might respond – but unlike many wingers who like a step-over a little too much, he has the skill and quality to back it up.

Cherki will, in all probability, get under slightly more old-fashioned fans’ grills. He’s done that plenty in France, and allegations about his ‘attitude’ have followed him for years – all we can say for sure is that while he is undeniably brash, brazen and utterly disrespectful to the defender in front of him, if this is him being lazy and demonstrating a sub-par work ethic, just imagine how good he’ll be if he tries.

The chances are that Cherki’s supposed personal issues are overblown to some degree, as is so often the case with young players when they’re perceived as being a little bit flash, and even more so when they aren’t white. All that’s clear from the outside, however, is that he is blessed with ability most players can only dream of.

Only three players in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues have created more shooting chances than his 103, and only one player has completed more dribbles. Assuming Cherki can learn to handle being knocked about a bit in England, then he should thrive. Expect several sides to make a bid this summer, and expect him to thrill and irritate fans in equal measure.