Rayan Cherki, the new jewel
On November 10th, 2019, Boubacar Kamara illuminated the OM/OL game but it was not the only highlight of the night. Another event went unnoticed at first but as time went by during the second half, a young player pushed hard to score the equaliser. All fans watching the game said the same thing at the same time: “who is this talented little guy”? This talented little guy is Rayan Cherki and he could very much become Antoine Griezmann’s successor with Les Bleus.
Born in Lyon in August 2003 –Zlatan Ibrahimović was already playing for Ajax Amsterdam on that date — from an Italian father and an Algerian mother and raised in the same city, he is a pure product of the French integration model. In 2009, at the age of 6 he started football at Saint-Priest, a very good club located in Lyon’s suburbs. As he was literally above the competition, he started playing for OL academy a year later. Since then he climbed the latter smoothly playing for Lyon and France Youth teams. He even scored 4 goals in the Youth League in 2019/2020 before being promoted to the first team at the age of 16. His professional debut took place on October 19th, 2019 against Dijon in Ligue 1 (0–0). He then played 12 games and scored 3 goals. He even appeared 3 times in the Final 8 in Lisbon playing against Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
Right footed but describing himself as ambidextrous, skilful, fast, and capable of sudden changes of direction, he will surely be more often part of Rudy Garcia’s starting eleven this season. Often caricatured as a farmer league, Ligue 1 has indeed plenty of talented players in its 20 teams: Eduardo Camavinga (Stade Rennais), Boubacar Kamara (OM), Colin Dagba (PSG), Maxence Caqueret (OL), Ibrahima Diallo (Stade Brestois), Mohamed Simakan (RC Strasbourg), Mounir Chouiar (Dijon), Rayan Aït-Nouri (Angers), Imran Louza (Nantes) and indeed Rayan Cherki (OL) to mention just a few. Ligue 1 lets young players grow up sometimes slowly and often quickly.
Until around 2015 the league most club’s business model was to nurture young players in its academies, start them for at least 2 years, and sell them to the top 5 in the league. Since that date, a new model has occurred represented by average level clubs. The aim is now to start their few young talented players as soon as possible and sell them abroad for a fair amount of money — 15M€ at least — to anyone interested. Therefore, the clubs can then reinvest this money to improve their academies and to buy new very young players. Some average clubs decided to go that way such as Lille or Saint-Etienne (Nicolas Pepe and William Saliba sold to Arsenal). The top 5 though, is using the same model but with much more talented players and amplified by Champions League exposure. This business model is embodied by AS Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais. It could work if the club succeeds to make real money out of it as when AS Monaco sold Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Tiemoué Bakayoko and Kylian Mbappe for €327M in summer 2017 or when OL transferred Alexandre Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso for €94M in 2018. Though, it could have the opposite effect and if the clubs do not perform, they would have to keep their unwanted players who earn too much money and the model would be problematic to support.
An average player would be transferred to an average foreign club such as Everton, Aston Villa or Betis Seville. A good player would go to a better club and an excellent player such as Anthony Martial, Kylian Mbappe or Kingsley Coman would run for a top club.
Speaking of Rayan Cherki, no one has any doubts about his future. A few more years at OL in the starting 11, accumulating experience, some Champions League games and goals and he will surely see what is going on in the Premier League. Arsenal, in a rebuilding process, could be a very good choice for the youngster. Not a lot of pressure, calm and quiet fans as well as nice North London way of life.
Raphaël Marguerit
Paris, 16/09/2020
