Sergio Aguero comparison speaks volumes for Rayan Cherki at Man City

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Pep Guardiola compared Rayan Cherki to Sergio Aguero in an interesting assessment of the Manchester City playmaker

Asked about Rayan Cherki's contribution at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola had plenty to say that wasn't positive. He had played too close to Gianluigi Donnarumma at times, he had played too close to the manager at times, he hadn't played properly after City had taken control of the game and he knows that he is not a 90-minute player.

The fact that this was the 12th consecutive Premier League game where Cherki has not played from start to finish would bear the latter point out, and it is clear that Guardiola sees obvious room for improvement in the 22-year-old. To say those who said Cherki was too much of a free spirit to thrive at City have been made to look very silly, there are definitely parts of the playmaker's game that make Guardiola wince.

However, there are also things that he does that amaze Guardiola in the way that few in his decorated career have managed.

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"Rayan has something special, the second goal I said choose the pass right and he passed to Marc Guehi that I could not even see from outside," said the coach.

It is also clear from watching the pair interact with each other over the last 10 months that they cannot fail to get on. Both fanatical about not just football but beautiful football, as Cherki said in October: "He's crazy like me - two crazy guys! We talk about everything, it's unbelievable. Football is all my life. I eat football, I sleep football, I shower football."

Perhaps the most interesting part of Guardiola's answer on Sunday was the comparison to City legend Sergio Aguero. Here was a man who was world-class before the manager arrived at the Etihad, faced a real threat to his position in the team and left the club before he would have wanted, but found enough common ground with Guardiola to earn himself a statue outside the Etihad for his goalscoring contributions for City.

Aguero could not come close to matching Gabriel Jesus for his work off the ball, and briefly lost his place in the team for it, but worked at his weakness and added that to his other list of strengths to make himself too good for Guardiola to leave out. Effort goes a long way with Guardiola and as long as Cherki is showing that, his place in the team appears secure with everything else that he can offer.

"His work ethic is unbelievable because he knows he is not going to play, knowing he doesn't have the speed and pressing that Antoine Semenyo has that is amazing," Guardiola said of Cherki. "I've been with Sergio Aguero and Sergio Aguero was not the incredible high press player but he tried his best and all I ask is that. Do your best and you can do it because he has another quality. Every player has his own ability."

Cherki will never be the perfect Guardiola player because of the way both are wired, yet - like Aguero - he has world-class talent and a hunger to do whatever it takes to get to use it even if he cannot excel at everything. Having already made an enormous impact in his first year in English football, Cherki has filled the creative void left by Kevin De Bruyne and if he has half the career of the Belgian or Aguero at the Etihad he will have been an enormous success.