Chelsea have been given a major incentive to replace Mason Mount with Rayan Cherki. The 19-year-old wonderkid has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer following a meteoric rise to superstardom at Olympique Lyonnais.
Cherki, featured 34 times for Laurent Blanc's side in Ligue 1 last season, directly contributing towards ten goals. Despite his age, the teenage sensation has quickly established himself in the Lyon starting lineup.
He was fast-tracked into the first-team a couple of years ago following his impressive performances in the academy and made his senior debut in the Champions League at the age of just 16. The France Under-21 international hasn't looked back since and he's now said to be on the Blues' radar this summer.
football.london understands that Chelsea are considering a move for Cherki, who sees his contract with the French outfit expire in two-years. It's believed that the west Londoners sent scouts to watch the attacking midfielder on several occasions last term, where they also monitored the progress of Malo Gusto, who was signed in January.
With the Blues in the market for a creative outlet to replace Mount, Cherki has emerged as one of the most exciting options. As a showman, he certainly passes the eye test – but Mauricio Pochettino will want to be certain that he can be effective in the final-third.
Using data from Opta, @jaseziv created a graph to compare the best performing under-23 midfielders, attacking midfielders and wide forwards, who played at least 13 lots of 90-minutes across the 2022/23 season, in the Europe's top five leagues. The graph looked at who enjoyed the most shot-creating actions and progressive passes per game.
Cherki ranked highest in the shot-creating actions category above the likes of Jamal Musiala, Rafael Leao and Rodrygo and even new Liverpool signing Dominik Szoboszlai, suggesting that he is a better performer than those players.. The Lyon star also managed to produce some of the most progressive passes per 90-minutes last season, with only the likes of Martin Odegaard, Jude Bellingham and Enzo Fernandez ahead of him.
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While his ability to create opportunities is just one bow in his arrow, there's a lot to be excited about if Chelsea can get their hands on the Lyon star. In an exclusive interview with football.london, French football expert Nicholas Mamo said: "[Cherki is a] very creative and unpredictable attacking midfielder.
"Cherki is the type of player you give the ball to when your team is looking for a last-minute winner," he added before discussing the Frenchman's price tag. "It's difficult to say, especially because of the club's new direction.
"[John] Textor [Lyon's president] does not seem keen on selling players. [Jean-Michel] Aulas [Lyon's former president] planned to sell players for €70million [£60million] this summer, whereas Textor held out and sold nobody before the end of June.
"Instead, Textor is trying to find funding elsewhere to prioritise the sporting side. Lyon want €35million [£30million] for [Castello] Lukeba, whose contract expires in 2025, like Cherki.
"Lukeba is one year older, a defender and significantly less hyped. I expect Lyon to push for at least €40million [£34.3million] for Cherki, but they might go for more. At that price, however, I expect other teams, maybe even PSG, to start a bidding war."
