Rayan Cherki walked on to the pitch on Sunday looking like a man who had been insulted. By the time he walked off, he had rescued Enzo Maresca’s first Premier League game in charge of Manchester City – and probably reshaped the conversation about his own role at the club.
Left on the bench against Bournemouth, the 23-year-old did not bother to hide his anger. He rarely does. But he channelled it. One viciously whipped corner for Marc Guehi’s equaliser. One moment of vision and precision for Josko Gvardiol’s added-time winner. Game flipped. Manager spared. Statement made.
A match turned, a debate reopened
Maresca will have felt the relief as much as the joy. Lose your first league match as City manager and the noise starts early. Win it with the help of a player whose attitude has been questioned since the day he arrived from Lyon for £30m, and the story suddenly has a different edge.
“He made an impact the other day,” Maresca told BBC Sport before City’s trip to Crystal Palace on Friday. Impact barely covers it. When City were stuck in the final third, Cherki supplied exactly what his manager later described: the rare quality to conjure a moment when the structure isn’t enough.
He swung in the corner that Guehi buried. He then sliced Bournemouth open again in stoppage time, picking the right pass at the right speed for Gvardiol to win it. Two contributions, two goals, three points – and a manager who, on the touchline at full-time, strode straight towards him, arm around his shoulders, talking firmly into his ear.
What Maresca said has stayed between them. The message, though, was clear enough when the Italian was asked if Cherki would start a game soon. “Absolutely, yeah,” he replied.
A star on paper, a substitute in reality
For all that influence, Cherki’s City career has been lived mostly in snapshots. Under Pep Guardiola last season, he featured in 33 Premier League games, but 14 of those came from the bench. He has been the spark, not always the starter.
The numbers argue loudly in his favour. His two goal contributions last weekend took him to 12 assists from open play since the start of last season – more than any other Premier League player in that span. No one has created more in live play, yet he still isn’t guaranteed a place on the teamsheet.
His status with France tells a similar story. At this summer’s World Cup he was reduced to a bit-part role, squeezed behind a glittering line of forwards. His only start came in the third-fourth place play-off against England, a game that went badly wrong. France trailed 4-0 by half-time and Cherki did not reappear for the second half. His total game time for the entire tournament: 124 minutes, and cameras later picked up his apparent displeasure with Didier Deschamps.
The talent is obvious. So are the emotions.
The attitude question that never quite goes away
City knew that when they signed him. In the club’s recent documentary on Amazon, chief executive Ferran Soriano admitted there were doubts long before the ink dried on the deal.
“The information on Cherki was not so positive, I will be very honest,” Soriano said. “Everybody knew about his abilities, but there was this idea that he was chaotic.”
Maresca has discovered the same volatility, but up close. “Rayan is quite a nice and clear boy, if he is not happy he wants to show it,” the City manager said after the Bournemouth win. “If he’s next to me and he’s not happy, you all realise that he is not happy because he is doing anything just to show that he is not happy.”
This is not a player who sulks quietly. If he feels he should be starting and isn’t, the touchline and the dressing room will know about it.
Yet on Tuesday night, at the PFA awards in Manchester, the mood looked very different. Cherki posed for photos, signed autographs, smiled his way through the evening. He was named in the Team of the Year and shortlisted for Young Player of the Year – public recognition of what his numbers have been shouting for a while.
Maresca’s balancing act
Maresca, though, has to manage more than a stat sheet. He has a game plan to protect, an opponent to consider, a squad full of internationals to keep onside.
“In terms of quality, he is a different player to the rest because he can give us moments when we struggle in the last third,” he said. “He has the quality that we need, but it depends also on the game plan and the opponent that we play. There is no doubt he’s going to help now and in the future. I am very happy with the way he is working.”
That last line matters. Behind the highlight reels and the debates about attitude, the manager sees a player putting in the work. The question is whether Cherki can keep that focus when the starts don’t come as quickly as he wants.
City go to Crystal Palace on Friday with a decision hanging over the team sheet. Does Maresca reward the Bournemouth cameo with a start? Or does he hold the line, keep Cherki as the game-changer from the bench and risk stoking that visible frustration again?
For the flamboyant, fiery playmaker, this season may not be defined by what he can do with the ball. Everyone already knows about that. It may be defined by what he can control without it.
