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“There are moments I just want to shout at him and there are moments I want to kiss him.” Such is Pep Guardiola’s relationship with Rayan Cherki: part exasperation, part adoration. Guardiola is football’s master of fine-tuning. He has polished footballers until their natural instincts have become dictated by a system of control, structure and repetition above individual sparks of brilliance. Cherki, however, feels different – a sharp, unpredictable edge that Guardiola has left intact.
The 22-year-old, who arrived from Lyon in the summer for £34m, is already testing Guardiola’s philosophy of shaping players rather than accommodating them. His approach to Cherki feels very different to previous big signings. When Jack Grealish arrived from Aston Villa for £100m in 2022, he was one of English football’s most audacious, improvisational talents – a player unafraid of expression.
But the free roaming virtuoso of Villa Park became, for better or worse, a cog in Guardiola’s relentless possession machine: his dribbles per game dropped by 40% in his first season at the club, and his flair and freedom was swapped for a regimented support role. The results were impressive – Grealish played an important role as City won three league titles, the Champions League and an FA Cup – even if some fans longed to see more of the old Grealish.
Danilo, the former City defender, said that working with Guardiola was like “being at university” and “being brainwashed but in a good way”, adding that he had “played football in completely the wrong way” before he arrived in Manchester. Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva have all had to adapt their style – or move on.
And yet we arrive at the curious case of Cherki, a player Guardiola appears inclined to accommodate rather than reshape. Gary Neville railed against the “robotic nature” of modern footballers after a goalless, boring Manchester derby at Old Trafford earlier this year. Neville lamented the absence of risk, freedom and individuality on show. Cherki embodies everything Neville argued the modern game is losing. At times he looks like he is playing street football in an elite structure. Two-footed, touch-tight and deceptive, he manipulates defenders by changing tempo and angles. He roams between the lines and, most notably, he seems to play on instinct – something you do not often see in a City forward.
His instinctive nature has been crucial in breaking down the low block City inevitably face each week, securing points they would otherwise have struggled to pick up. In seasons gone by, City’s players receiving the ball behind the opposition midfield might have paused, reset and played safe to maintain control. Cherki does the opposite. He makes split-second decisions, turns quickly and plays incisive passes, unlocking tightly packed backlines before they can react.
After Liverpool struggled to break down Leeds’ low block in their recent 0-0 draw, Arne Slot said: “To create chances against a low block, you need pace and individual special moments to create an overload.” Cherki gives City exactly what Slot is describing.
You only have to look at his most recent goal and assist against Nottingham Forest to see that. For the opening goal, he received the ball on the half turn in a tight pocket between the lines, took one touch and threaded a pinpoint pass into the path of Tijjani Reijnders, who scored to give City the lead. Forest equalised early in the second half but Cherki won the game for City with a brave shot from the edge of the box. “I have to allow him to express his incredible talent,” Guardiola said after that performance – perhaps an admission that his unpredictability destabilises opponents in a way control and structure never can.
Jérémy Doku has been allowed similar freedom, certainly in comparison to Grealish, but Cherki’s creative fingerprints are everywhere this season. He leads the Premier League in chances created, through balls and assists, proof that Guardiola’s choice to leave this creative talent unshackled is bearing fruit.
Guardiola has even leaned into embracing Cherki’s creativity through his tactics too. The bedrock of his philosophy remains possession and control, but Cherki’s arrival has allowed City to add a subtle evolution. His ability to receive the ball on the half-turn in tight spaces, play incisive passes from deep and act decisively between the lines has allowed City to move the ball forward with greater speed, attack earlier in transition and exploit space behind opposition lines. They have made more fast breaks this season than during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons combined.
Guardiola has not abandoned his desire to refine players though. His ambition with Cherki is to find a balance between encouraging his creativity to flourish without ignoring game intelligence. Guardiola summed up this conflict after City’s 3-0 win against Sunderland in December when Cherki assisted Foden with an audacious rabona cross. “I never saw Messi doing these kinds of things and Messi’s the best player to play the game,” said Guardiola. “The biggest quality of Messi is the simplicity, the simple things he does perfectly. The biggest players like Rayan have to learn this, but he’s so young.”
Guardiola went on to suggest that players were free to express themselves as long as they did their jobs, were in the right positions and knew how to approach each opponent. “What I admire most about Rayan is not the skills,” said Guardiola. “I want players to do the simple things well and, after that, you can do whatever you want. We like to tell them to move in those spaces but, when they have the ball, do whatever they want. We tell them the way the opponents attack and defend, and what they have to do.”
Once the ball is at his feet, Cherki is free to make instinctive decisions and take risks. In other words, Guardiola’s system is not designed to coach the flair out of Cherki, but to create opportunities for his creativity to turn into moments of brilliance.
This is an article by WhoScored
