Manchester City will be aware that their pursuit to sign Florian Wirtz will not be an easy one as the Bayer Leverkusen sensation is one of the most sought-after players in Europe.
Wirtz could either join Manchester City or Bayern Munich but it is too premature to rule out his chances of playing for Xabi Alonso’s side next season.
Furthermore, Wirtz is valued at £100 million and as excellent a player as the German is, the worry for City would be that spending such a massive fee on him would severely eat into their transfer budget — with a squad rejig scheduled for the summer.
Manchester City will be aware that clubs will especially be ready to quote them exorbitant fees as their fall from grace this campaign has been one of the biggest stories in world football.
However, Rayan Cherki has emerged as an alternative to Florian Wirtz for Manchester City ahead of the summer transfer window.
Man City earmark Rayan Cherki as Florian Wirtz transfer alternative
Journalist Steve Kay told KS1 TV that Manchester City view Wirtz as both a cheaper alternative to Wirtz as well as a similar player: “Yeah, that’s what it is, City see him as a cheaper alternative and a similar player to Florian Wirtz. Wirtz is very high on the list, but he has a very high price tag.”
Kay added that unlike Wirtz, whose potential addition could prompt Manchester City to match the club-record fee they paid to sign Jack Grealish, Rayan Cherki would cost just £21.4 million: “Cherki has an agreement in his contract at Lyon meaning he can leave for €25 million (£21.4 million).”
“So, they’re looking at him as the cheaper option and they have loads to do in the summer window.”
However, it is important to remember that the Bundesliga winner remains their dream target, with Manchester City willing to spend big to sign Wirtz.
Manchester City are eyeing Morgan Gibbs-White as well and now Cherki seems to one of their three targets alongside Wirtz to potentially come in and help replace the departing Kevin De Bruyne.
What Thierry Henry has already said about Rayan Cherki
Thierry Henry, who has worked with the Lyon midfielder claimed in March that he should have been irate about not being selected in his French Under-21 squad in March last year.
Henry said via Get French Football News: “He has woken up. That’s good. Not seeing his name on the list should have annoyed him. He needs to show consistency because there is a huge difference between sometimes showing character and showing character all the time.”
However, Manchester City will be delighted to hear that Thierry Henry claimed he has never seen a player dribble as quickly as Cherki does with both feet — a quality Wirtz also has but not to the Frenchman’s degree.
“I’m not talking about his quality, because I have never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him, with both feet. But he made a thunderous debut, very young and to not be starting matches today, that means what it means.”
“We all like watching Cherki play but he has to perform well. He loves football and he knows what he has to do to return to the foreground.”
