Manchester City got their Club World Cup campaign under way with a 2-0 win over Morocco’s Wydad AC as Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders were handed their debuts.
Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders both signed for Manchester City at the start of June, in time for them to make their Club World Cup squad.
City fans were eager to see how both players got on, considering both are expected to play a key role in the squad next season.
Reijnders hit the ground running and won praise from City fans, while Cherki’s display against Wydad was fairly mixed.
Several media outlets commented on Cherki’s display, while City fans took to social media to give their thoughts on what they saw from the £30million signing from Lyon.
Manchester City fans call for patience over Rayan Cherki as Pep Guardiola slated for playing him out of position
Although no City fan could say Cherki was superb, most acknowledged that he would need some time to get used to playing in his new surroundings.
“A bit shy, nervous, understandable though, it’s his debut and he tried to score and to impress us, shows devotion,” one fan wrote on X.
“I like it, he is definitely gonna be a beast for us in the future, that’s not in doubt.”
Another said: “Looks like he was trying too hard, been at the same club since he was a kid. Needs to relax more.”
And another wrote: “Looked good! Was a bit over eager to do stuff, but after a few games, he will settle in perfectly, I think…
“I also think he will be better when he has a Haaland to aim for upfront.”
Other fans acknowledged that Cherki was played out of position, with one saying: “Nah Pep, come on, can’t be playing Cherki out of position on his debut and not even giving him a chance in his favourite position.”
Another wrote: “Spent most of the time playing striker.
“Curious what he’ll look like with Haaland in the team because I think what he played today isn’t very representative of the role he’ll have in the team.”
Another said: “I mean, playing with a false 9 against a back 5 with every offensive player dropping deep to receive the ball with no one running in-behind haven’t exactly made it easy for him.”
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As one fan mentioned, Cherki’s display is likely not going to be representative of how he is going to be deployed in the regular season.
In the opening exchanges of Tuesday’s game, Cherki was deployed as a number 10 but soon after, Guardiola deployed him in a more advanced position.
This ended up proving a bad decision, with Guardiola not getting the best out of Cherki by any means.
However, Cherki is likely to have more freedom in terms of his positioning next season, based on what he recently told the Daily Mail.
“I spoke with Pep about my position on the pitch and we spoke about what I enjoy when I’m on the pitch,” he said. “It’s very good for me.
“He told me he loves a number 10, but now I play all the positions in the pitch, it’s not complicated because I just want to play.”
Cherki added: “Pep told me, ‘when you have the ball, you are free’ which is very good for me because it’s my first quality to help the team.”
