Rayan Cherki rejected Man United proposal and is now player of the year for Man City

Rayan Cherki has announced himself as the Premier League player that a club from Manchester always knew he was destined to be.

The 22-year-old underlined why he was talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham’s pick for Player of the Year with his goal in Man City’s win over Arsenal.

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Cherki opened the scoring in the 2-1 victory over the table-topping Gunners to swing the title race in Pep Guardiola’s side’s favour.

Cherki reaches 10+ goals and 10+ assists

The Frenchman’s moment of magic saw him become the first player to reach double figures in BOTH goals and assists for a Premier League club in all competitions this season.

In fact, Cherki has become just the fourth member of the 10+ goals and 10+ assists club in Europe’s top-five leagues, alongside Lamine Yamal, Vinícius Júnior, and Michael Olise.

As the playmaker continues to go from strength to strength, City’s neighbours, Manchester United, will always be thinking, ‘What if?’

Cherki could have first moved to England after having a trial at Chelsea as a 12-year-old in 2015, before he opted to stay at Lyon.

talkSPORT understands that when he was at U15-U16 level, Man United held a strong interest and even made a proposal to Cherki.

However, City’s No.10 ultimately preferred to start his career at his boyhood club and made his senior debut in 2019.

The 5 ft 10 in star had emerged on the club’s radar after becoming the then-youngest goalscorer in the UEFA Youth League, aged 15 and 33 days – ironically in a defeat to Manchester City Under-19s.

That record is now held by Max Dowman, who was an unused substitute watching on as Cherki dazzled at the Etihad on Sunday.

The pair’s rise to the top could not be starker in comparison, with Dowman already being labelled as a ‘future Ballon d’Or winner’.

Cherki, meanwhile, dubbed by former Arsenal player Maitland-Niles as the best natural talent he’s ever seen, had a much less smooth ride.

But praise from his teammates has been a constant throughout his career, which began with Kylian Mbappe’s seal of approval.

Magical Cherki hailed by City

And now Nico O’Reilly has been the latest to wax lyrical about Cherki, having paid tribute to him during an interview with City Studios.

“It makes life easier for all of us when he can go out and do that magic.

“We all know how good of a player he is and when he can go and show it in these big games.

“He’s massive for all of us.

“I enjoyed it a lot. A great win, the crowd were amazing today. I’m buzzing with everything.”