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Manchester City playmaker Rayan Cherki has had a big week for the Blues and could be set for another
It has been quite the seven days for Rayan Cherki.
If Wolves was the start of his Manchester City career when he came off the bench and scored his first goal for the club, Swansea was an important follow-up as he returned from a lengthy injury to score one and make one. Even more importantly, a few days later he provided two goals for Erling Haaland to help the Blues to one of their best wins of the season.
Those performances have thrilled Cherki and also plenty of Blues, who were excited when they signed such a creative player in the summer and even more excited when he said in his first interview that he wanted to 'kill' United. On Tuesday, things got even better for the 23-year-old when Haaland was asked about him.
"He has this kind of special ability which is difficult to explain, a little bit like Kevin [De Bruyne] had when he can just pass someone through from wherever on the pitch," explained City's No.9. "He's a special talent and we need to help him develop even more because he can be really good."
If Haaland is praising you, you must be doing plenty right. If he is comparing you to the incomparable Kevin De Bruyne, there isn't really a higher bar.
That can be a burden for some, a weight to drag them down that is difficult to shift and it will be interesting to see how Cherki copes with rising expectations. Against Dortmund and Liverpool this week, he will hope to get the chance.
Which brings us onto Florian Wirtz. Part of the reason Cherki has been able to fly under the radar, other than the fact he has been injured for six weeks, is because he cost less than a third of Wirtz.
City fans were angry when Wirtz chose a move to Anfield instead of becoming De Bruyne's successor at the Etihad, yet a cut-price Cherki soon lifted the mood. When the two played against each other for their national teams in the UEFA Nations League, the lack of a £82m difference between the pair enthused Blues even more.
Wirtz is anything but to certain to start at City on Sunday after beginning his Liverpool career looking weighed down by the burden of being (briefly, before Alexander Isak took the title) the most expensive transfer ever in English football. If Cherki gets the chance against Dortmund to build on his last two games, there is a real chance he keeps his place for the visit of the champions on Sunday.
That may feel like his biggest test yet, although no game can be as scary as trying to live up to De Bruyne comparisons. Equally, no performance can be better than living up to them.
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