Rayan Cherki can be a Pep Guardiola player after all: 'Free soul' is overcoming individualistic reputation to earn Man City manager's trust

Rudi Garcia, the man who gave Cherki his debut for Lyon, warned early on of "the danger of making him believe he is already one of the best players on the planet." Peter Bosz, meanwhile, repeatedly left Cherki out of his line-up, while Laurent Blanc admitted to having "heated discussions" with the playmaker over his individualistic tendencies.

Fabio Grosso dismissed Cherki's unique talent by calling him "a player like any other" and later declared: "He possesses enormous technical abilities, but he needs to work on the others." Pierre Sage went one further after leaving Cherki out of his line-up for several games by removing him from his squad over a contract stand-off.

It wasn't just coaches that struggled to get on with Cherki, either. In leaked WhatsApp messages, Lyon's American owner John Textor described the homegrown talent as "a little a**hole".

Cherki seemed to finally mature in his final season with Lyon. He was reintegrated into the squad by Sage after signing a new contract, which meant he would be able to guarantee his cash-strapped club a transfer fee when he was eventually sold. When Sage was sacked last January, Cherki led the tributes by saying "he leaves an exceptional legacy" after steering the club away from the threat of relegation the previous season.

Cherki then ingratiated himself to new boss Paulo Fonseca by rallying around him after the Portuguese was banned from the touchline for nine months for confronting a referee. But most importantly, Cherki delivered on the pitch, producing consistently brilliant displays on his way to ending the campaign with 12 goals and 20 assists.

His performances finally backed up the lofty words that had been uttered about him in the past, such as when former Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas claimed, "Cherki can be compared to [Lionel] Messi in terms of his technical quality."

Guardiola, who got the best out of Messi at Barcelona, decided to take a punt on Cherki, who only turned 22 in August. City only had to pay £34 million ($44m) as he had one year left on his Lyon contract, meaning the move represented more upsides than downsides.

It is worth remembering that Messi, who was described by some Barca team-mates as "The Little Dictator", was not exactly easy to coach. It was, after all, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner who texted Guardiola on the way back home from one game to tell him how upset he was at being asked to play second fiddle to Ibrahimovic. Some players, though, are worth making exceptions for.

And while Aulas might have exaggerating a little bit - or indeed tried to increase Cherki's value - when he compared his player with Messi, he is far from alone in viewing Cherki as a generational talent. Former City full-back Gael Clichy worked with Cherki as assistant coach to Thierry Henry for France's Under-21s side and he reserved the highest of praise for his former charge.

"If we talk about the quality of the player, I haven't seen anyone that good," Clichy told GOAL. "That's a big quote, but I do feel that if he can bring his off-the-ball game to a certain level, I think we could be talking about a player that can can reach Kevin De Bruyne’s numbers, because in tight spaces, in key areas of the pitch, he can create danger. And this is what you want at City."

While Cherki punished Bournemouth's high press on Sunday, Clichy believes he will be most useful when City come up against more stubborn opponents who are content to defend for 90 minutes. In other words, the games where City have tended to struggle the most.

"When you play against a low-block team with a defence of five, there's not much space. So you need to have the quality on the on the wing, which I think City are lacking a little bit," he added. "You know, you go from Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Leroy Sane which for me, as a full-back, were a nightmare to play against. I think they lost that."

Clichy did not hide away from the area where Cherki needs to improve above all, though: "He will need to be able to show that off ball, out of possession, he can perform, because we know this is his problem. This is his weakness. It was his weakness when he was with us in France. So far, what I've seen in England, this is what people are thinking about him. So if Pep manages to take him to a different level out of possession, I think he will be a tremendous player for City. And I think this is the kind of player that Pep wants. Now in the Premier League it's not just about having the ball, it's also how you deal with transitions. And there is the big job for for Pep."

There were early signs that Cherki's showmanship might grate with Guardiola, such as when the coach looked exasperated with his new signing when he lost possession on his debut against Wydad Casablanca in the Club World Cup. The benefits of his maverick style of play were also on show on his Premier League debut at Wolves, when he conjured a backheel pass to Nico O'Reilly and then collected the ball to arrow in City's fourth goal.

But Cherki could not offe any further glimpses of his talent as he picked up an injury during his home debut, the 2-0 defeat against Tottenham. More than two months on the sidelines followed, but Cherki was back in the starting line-up against Swansea in the Carabao Cup and stole the show by hitting the woodwork, setting up Omar Marmoush with a deft touch and then scoring the third goal.

He showed he had fully recovered from his injury by starting against Bournemouth less than four days after completing 90 minutes in south Wales and set Haaland on course for goal, first with a header and then a first-time chipped pass. It is becoming increasingly clear that City's entire tactical plan is now based around getting the ball to Haaland where he is most dangerous, and after they failed to do that effectively in their previous outing at Aston Villa, Cherki found it remarkably easy to locate their dangerman.

Guardiola praised Cherki's "courage to play" after the game, while also highlighting "this special talent, the connection with the people up front, that is unique". But the coach's pre-match interview with Sky Sports provided more insight into why he likes Cherki and, crucially, why he is prepared to put up with his individualistic streak.

"All the managers make a chess game, [saying to players] 'You have to do this, you have to do that' and he's a little bit of a free soul," Guardiola explained. "He's a special player and he's so young and hopefully he can be open and conscious to learn what the team needs from him with or without the ball and all the actions we need. But of course he brings something up front that is unique."

Guardiola is perhaps more than any other coach known for treating his players like chess pieces, and he famously squeezed all the unpredictability and stardust out of Jack Grealish in order to make him more valuable to his City team. But while he will not exactly leave Cherki to his own devices all the time, he already sees him as within a category of players whom he trusts to do just what feels right in attack.

"In the big clubs you need talent, you need discipline," he added. "The discipline is just to be all together and decide what we have to do. We have to do this otherwise playing modern football is impossible. After that in the final third I never said to Raheem Sterling or Savinho or Leroy Sane or Riyad Mahrez 'Now you have to go left or right'. Just flow with your talent, invent something in the final third."

Cherki has always been able to deliver in the final third, but now he has the added benefit of working with the world's most deadly striker. And if he can keep up his understanding with Haaland and understand what Guardiola wants him to do when he is not attacking, he will prove to be an absolute steal.

Click here to read article