PSG and Liverpool join Cherki chase

Considered in France as an eternal promise, and linked to Real Madrid every summer, Rayan Cherki has finally taken the step forward that French public opinion has been betting on him for so many years.

Since he was 16, the attacking midfielder was considered one of the most promising players in European football and, after several seasons of inconsistent form, with a failed transfer in the summer, the performance of the France Under-21 international has attracted the interest of major European clubs, including PSG and Liverpool.

Lyon’s financial woes

As Foot-Mercato reports, both clubs are targeting the talented Olympique Lyon player, who was provisionally relegated to the second division in November by the DNCG and is in dire need of selling their best assets to raise the 100 million euros required by the financial body to confirm their relegation. Lyon will begin negotiating for Cherki at 30 million euros, a figure that is more than affordable for top European teams.

PSG have already made various attempts behind the scenes to unblock Cherki’s move. In the summer, just before his move to Dortmund fell through, with Lyon agreeing a fee of €15m but Sahin turning it down when everything was settled, Luis Campos made an agreement with the player’s entourage to sign for the Parisian side. The main obstacle facing Paris Saint-Germain is that relations with Lyon have been completely broken since the summer following a fall-out between Textor and Al Khelaïfi. Such a delicate situation could rule out his arrival in January.

Liverpool’s interest in Cherki

Liverpool, meanwhile, are aware that the market opportunity that Cherki presents is ideal. Lyon need to sell in order not to be relegated to the second division, his talent would fit like a glove in Slot’s style and the player has hinted, in recent interviews, that he could take a leap in his career in the coming months. In the summer, in fact, the French team ruled out the attacking midfielder to transfer him, but a complete turnaround in his situation led to his renewal until 2027 and not only that, but he became one of the most differential players in Ligue 1.

Across all competitions, with a resounding talent, Cherki has accumulated a total of 12 goal participations in 17 matches - scoring five goals and supplying seven assists. He has definitely come into his own after several seasons in which he failed to translate into numbers the enormous potential he showed on the pitch.

The performances he has shown throughout the course have not gone unnoticed by PSG and Liverpool, who could speed up negotiations to sign him in next month’s transfer window.