Rayan Cherki's magical skills could be just what France needs in tight games at the World Cup

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Rayan Cherki's magical skills could be just what France needs in tight games at the World Cup

2026-06-02 17:10 Last Updated At：17:41

PARIS (AP) — If matches get tight for France at the World Cup and a defense is particularly hard for the star-studded attack to breach, Rayan Cherki is a dream player to bring on.

The 22-year-old enjoyed a brilliant first season with Manchester City, lighting up the Premier League with his maverick skills and amazing passing. He finished second with 12 assists behind only Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, an established Premier League player.

One of Cherki's assists saw him dribble across the penalty area with his right foot before playing a blind pass — where a player does not look in the direction of where he is passing — with his left foot to Marc Guéhi. Afterward, City coach Pep Guardiola — who coached all-time great Lionel Messi at Barcelona — spoke of his disbelief at the creativity shown because he had not even seen that pass as an option.

In another match, Cherki assisted on Phil Foden's goal with an audacious Rabona pass, where the player's kicking leg is crossed behind the back of the standing leg.

Cherki is more of a passer, but when he does score the goals highlight his amazing close control. Take his brilliant goal on his City debut against Wolverhampton, where he started the move with an outrageous backheel flick.

He can also run directly at players at speed with the ball glued to his feet, attributes he shares with the record eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi. His goal during his debut for France last June saw him net a brilliant volley against Spain in the Nations League.

“Rayan has something special,” Guardiola said. “He will become an extraordinary player with his mindset and mentality.”

Cherki gives France coach Didier Deschamps wider options thanks to his versatility. He can play as an attacking midfielder or a right winger as he does with City, or as a playmaker just behind the center forward.

He was positioned behind Marcus Thuram in a 3-1 win against Colombia in March, where he was involved in two goals, and behind Kylian Mbappé against Ukraine last November.

When he was called up to the France squad for the first time in May last year, Cherki called it “the beginning of a beautiful adventure.” It could take him to greatness, for Cherki has the soccer world at his feet.

It’s hard to tell which is his stronger foot, although like Messi his best magic comes from his left.

In a interview with France Football magazine in March, Cherki was asked to name City’s best technical player.

Without hesitation, he replied: “Me.”

Cherki also described himself as “one of the most unpredictable players on the planet.”

Perfect if France needs him to break down a solid defense.

Cherki came through Lyon's renowned youth academy, which has produced the likes of 2022 Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema and the wonderfully skilled Hatem Ben Arfa.

He made his Ligue 1 debut at just 16 years old in October 2019 and scored his first senior goal a few weeks later in a French Cup match, when Cherki's astounding talent shone bright. He scored two clinical goals, set up a teammate with a brilliant pass from midfield, won a penalty which his teammate missed, then provided another assist. Oh, he also hit the crossbar with an audacious lob.

It was a mesmerizing performance for his age and put him on the radar of Europe's biggest clubs.

In his final season at Lyon, he ended with a league-high 11 assists. City landed him last summer for 36 million euros ($41 million), perhaps benefitting from Lyon's dire financial situation to buy him for what now looks like a bargain price in soccer transfer terms.

Guardiola must have already known what he was getting, since Cherki scored against City in a Champions League youth game just after turning 15 — the youngest scorer in the competition.

Cherki’s remarkable balance is an asset he shares with Messi and the late Diego Maradona, who honed his rare talent in the back streets of a shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. As a young boy, Cherki developed his technique on the streets of Lyon in east-central France. After one season with suburban club Saint-Priest he joined Lyon’s academy at seven.

While he is not expected to start for France at the World Cup it's understandable given the glittering talent in attack.

Les Bleus will likely line up with Bayern Munich star Michael Olise, Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and the prolific Mbappé, who scored a hat trick in the 2022 World Cup final loss to Argentina and netted in the 2018 World Cup final win over Croatia.

Deschamps is stepping down after the World Cup and his successor is widely touted to be Zinedine Zidane — the star of France's triumphs at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 who, like Mbappe, scored in two World Cup finals.

Zidane was an exquisitely gifted midfielder himself and could build his team around Cherki in years to come.

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Asian shares mostly slip as latest fighting undermines the US-Iran ceasefire.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Tuesday as renewed fighting threatened the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

U.S. futures also fell.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.6% to 65,833.49 and South Korea's Kospi dipped 1.7% to 8,642.82.

The Hang Seng gained 1.2% to 25,698.75, while the Shanghai Composite slipped less than 0.1% to 4,056.56.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 8,692.20.

Monday on Wall Street, U.S. stocks ticked to more records.

The S&P 500 added 0.3% to close at 7,599.96 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 51,078.88. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4% to 27,086.81.

In the bond market, the yield for the 10-year Treasury briefly approached 4.52% before regressing to 4.46%, up from 4.45% late Friday.

U.S. companies with big fuel bills were hurt by rising oil prices. United Airlines lost 2.6%, and Alaska Air Group fell 3.3% after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed in overnight trading.

In Asian trading early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 39 cents to $91.77 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 28 cents to $94.70 a barrel. The levels are still well above the roughly $70 level they were at before the war.

Much hinges on whether the United States and Iran will reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, allowing deliveries of oil to resume from the Persian Gulf and easing the upward pressure on inflation.

Japan, for instance, imports almost all its oil, although the effects on prices of gas and other products have been relatively contained by the release of the nation's reserves so far.

“Crude shortages have already forced refiners across Asia and Europe to aggressively reduce runs,” said analyst Stephen Innes. “The result is that the squeeze is no longer confined to crude inventories. It is spreading into the fuels that actually power economies: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, and naphtha.”

On Monday, the United States said it bombed Iranian radar and drone sites after Tehran downed an American drone. Iran said it targeted U.S. soldiers in Kuwait with missiles that the U.S. said it shot down.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to dial back their fighting after he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanon-militant group through mediators.

On Wall Street, Nvidia was the strongest force lifting the market and rose 6.2% after CEO Jensen Huang announced several product updates at a conference. What Nvidia does matters immensely for the U.S. stock market because it’s the biggest in terms of overall market value.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.70 Japanese yen from 159.66 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1631.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama