Rayan Cherki plays with freedom and flamboyance – exactly the qualities Arsenal are lacking
Rayan Cherki had ticked the box. Done the boring job. Met his efficiency quota. Two assists in six second-half minutes to unlock the game. Now, with the admin out of the way, the Frenchman could really have some fun.
As the ball came to him on the right flank, he trapped it with the sole of his boot and lured Marc Cucurella out from his position. From a standing start, he scooped the ball up to his waist and volleyed it over the Spaniard’s head to set Antoine Semenyo free.
Rayan Cherki had ticked the box. Done the boring job. Met his efficiency quota. Two assists in six second-half minutes to unlock the game. Now, with the admin out of the way, the Frenchman could really have some fun.
As the ball came to him on the right flank, he trapped it with the sole of his boot and lured Marc Cucurella out from his position. From a standing start, he scooped the ball up to his waist and volleyed it over the Spaniard’s head to set Antoine Semenyo free.
He does things that go against his manager’s wishes. A rabona when he has two equally strong feet. Keepy-uppies when only a couple of goals ahead. Wears Hugo Etikite’s shirt while the game still had 20 minutes to go.
Cherki acts before he thinks. Reacts to the picture he sees and not the one given to him. It is the maverick gene. An instinctive feel for what the moment demands.
It is why he delayed playing the pass for the opening goal in the 3-0 win over Chelsea. Rather than force a hopeful cross, he chopped back and forth, again and again. Kept working the angle. He looked bored at one point. Then: bang. A clipped cross that perfectly judged the trajectory of Nico O’Reilly’s late dash into the penalty area for him to head home.
Who in the Arsenal team carries the ball as playfully? No one gets close. There can be cases made for Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze, but one is a small-space, system player and the other affects games in moments.
Cherki, still only 22, can produce magic in any size of role, gracing each game with at least a handful of unique displays of personality. It can frustrate his manager at times. Observing Guardiola on the touchline at Stamford Bridge, it often feels like he is battling with his players to do what he wants. He points to the left, they play right. Asks them to play through pressure, they go long to Erling Haaland.
But that is healthy, if not necessary, creative tension. Individuality resisting the system, throwing up new scenarios. Not patterns, not repeats, not controlled. A rough outline in which the players feel emboldened to apply their own twist.