It’s really interesting to see the Man City board talking about whether or not to sign Rayan Cherki.
A new documentary has revealed that the team behind Manchester City had real worries about Rayan Cherki’s mindset before they decided to sign him. Cherki joined City from Lyon last June for £34 million, signing a five-year deal. While many thought this was a smart move given the price, the club’s recruitment team wasn’t so sure if the “chaotic” Cherki would fit well with their style.
In the four-part Amazon Prime Video documentary *A Beautiful Obsession*, Hugo Viana, the club’s director of football, is shown talking about Cherki with his colleagues in a meeting at City’s training ground. One member of the recruitment team explains how they analyze players using data. “We’d take 43 stats and boil them down to just seven numbers,” he says. “Then we group similar players by these numbers. Like a Number 10 similar to peak Kevin De Bruyne. You see that?”
Cherki’s name comes up, and Viana suggests the young French midfielder could develop into a player like De Bruyne. But he quickly points to his head, meaning Cherki’s mentality was a concern. “He could be Kevin’s profile in two years,” Viana says, “but the mentality is…”
Away from the meeting room, Viana admits, “The info on Cherki wasn’t very positive. I’ll be honest.” City’s CEO, Ferran Soriano, adds, “Everyone knew what he could do, but there was a feeling that he was a bit chaotic.” This is shown with a clip of Cherki making a rude gesture to fans at Old Trafford.
Later in the documentary, a message from Soriano to club chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak gives more detail. Soriano says they spoke to several coaches about Cherki. One gave a bad review but that was from when Cherki was very young, so they started to think maybe the bad behavior talk was just a rumor.
Al-Mubarak urges the team to act fast. “We have to figure out how to make this work,” he says. “Deals like this don’t last forever, and people will notice if we wait too long.” Soriano confirms they’ve talked with Cherki’s agent, and even though other clubs showed interest, Cherki wanted to speak with Pep Guardiola first.
The documentary also covers Kyle Walker’s well-known departure. Walker wanted to leave City in January 2025 to play abroad after seven successful years. But a month before he announced it, he had a tense argument with a very emotional Guardiola after a 2-0 loss to Liverpool.
Walker shouted, “You keep saying my name, every meeting, every f***ing meeting it’s my name.” Guardiola explained that Walker’s name kept coming up because he was captain. Walker replied, “You didn’t want me to be captain,” and added he was reacting to something else but Guardiola kept bringing his name into it.
Guardiola then gave an emotional talk to his team. “If I’m a problem, you have to tell me,” he said with tears. “I’m not here just for the money or because I have to stay. I extended my contract because I want to be here, I want to fight for this team. I don’t want you to think I’m running away.”
He went on, “I don’t want to feel like things are falling apart. I want to help you all. But if the captains or anyone else feels there’s a problem, please tell me. It won’t change the love I have for you one bit. I just want to fight for this team. I’m sorry.”