Man City finally have a true Riyad Mahrez replacement in £34m gem, seven years on from the day he signed

Man City finally have a true Riyad Mahrez replacement in £34m gem, seven years on from the day he signed

Riyad Mahrez playing for Manchester City (left), mystery player (inset)

Credit: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

Many Manchester City fans miss the days of watching Riyad Mahrez bamboozle defenders at the Etihad Stadium.

 

It has been two years since Riyad Mahrez departed Manchester City to join Al-Ahli in a transfer deal worth £30 million.

 

Mahrez left the club after winning the Treble, and headed to Saudi Arabia where he is now on a lucrative contract.

 

He also talked up pursuing a new challenge, having won it all with City.

 

 

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In the two years since his exit, it is safe to say that City have missed the Algerian’s wing wizardry, especially in the season just gone.

 

Mahrez just had that knack of providing moments of magic, and provided consistent goal and assist numbers from out wide.

 

Since he left, City have not really had a true replacement for him – until now.

 

Rayan Cherki will be Manchester City’s new Riyad Mahrez

Rayan Cherki playing for Man City.

Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images

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It has been seven years to the day that City signed Mahrez from Leicester City in a £60 million deal.

 

 

And now, the club finally have a player who is a true replacement for him – and that man, is Rayan Cherki.

 

Cherki moved to the Etihad a few weeks ago from Lyon for around £34 million (Sky Sports), after the club failed in their pursuit of Florian Wirtz. It has never been uncommon for City to miss out on their main target – the club simply move on and sign an alternative, and they often turn out to be brilliant.

 

Cherki, who Mousa Dembele reckons is better than Desire Doue – could genuinely be the Mahrez 2.0 for City.

 

The Frenchman is the same kind of maverick player Mahrez was, and has incredible technical ability.

 

It is already crystal clear that Cherki has an incredible first touch – something that Mahrez is famous for. The clips of him warming up with Phil Foden at the Club World Cup are a strong suggestion that we will be seeing him pull balls out of the sky like it’s nothing.

 

 

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So Cherki looks like he could well be as silky as Mahrez – and there’s also an argument that he could be as efficient in the final third.

 

Last term for Lyon, he scored a remarkable 12 goals and made 20 assists in 44 appearances.

 

Mahrez was a fairly regular contributor of goals and assists, and Cherki seems like he could do the same.

 

Obviously, he is still young and is coming into City with no previous Premier League experience, which wasn’t the case with Mahrez seven years ago.

 

But this is a mercurial talent just waiting to light up the Etihad, and there is surely a very high chance that a player with this much technical ability and efficiency will thrive in a team like City under a coach like Pep Guardiola.

 

Cherki must show one thing Mahrez didn’t when he first joined Man City

There are clear similarities between Cherki and Mahrez in terms of the way they play.

 

Cherki – who is also comparable to Samir Nasri – perhaps plays a bit more inside than Mahrez, but by and large, they work in similar areas of the pitch.

 

But there’s one thing that Mahrez didn’t necessarily show in his early years at City, and it’s something Cherki will need to grasp very quickly – and that’s high work-rate.

 

Mahrez admitted in 2019 (via Mirror): “His concern was about my work-rate first, because at Leicester it was more of a team rate where we were trying to counter.

 

Riyad Mahrez in action for Manchester City.

Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

“It’s taken me some time to have it myself and to put it in my head and game, but I think now it’s good.

 

“I didn’t think I needed the adaptation until I came here and started training.

 

“It’s more about the adaptation of the game and of the partnership with the players and again it took me some time as well.”

 

It will be absolutely vital for Cherki to ensure that he does the dirty work, otherwise, his starting prospects will suffer.

 

The talent is already there, but to be allowed to show it regularly, he must quickly getto grips with things like pressing and defensive shape.

 

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