How this cheeky soccer maverick has shaken up the Premier League title race

The France playmaker is rapidly turning into a revelation in his debut season in English soccer — and a key cog in City’s late-season sprint to the title that will be supercharged with a win over the increasingly fragile league leader at Etihad Stadium this weekend. Until the last few weeks, Cherki’s highlight reel was topped by an assist for Phil Foden with an outrageous rabona cross during a league win over Sunderland in December. Recently, though, his showboating has gone to new levels.

Like his mid-match keepy-uppies during the win over Arsenal in the English League Cup final at Wembley Stadium last month. Like when, after a brilliant display in an FA Cup thrashing of Liverpool in early April, he swapped shirts with Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike and briefly sat among City’s substitutes wearing an opponent’s uniform in the final minutes of the game. And like on Sunday, when he was seen flipping a water bottle onto the painted touchline during an injury delay in the 3-0 win at Chelsea while other City players were getting tactical instructions from manager Pep Guardiola.

This, it seems, is not Cherki being disrespectful. It’s just him. And for Guardiola — soccer’s ultimate serial trophy winner — it has taken some getting used to.

“One of the most unbelievably talented players I’ve ever seen,” is Guardiola’s description of the 22-year-old Cherki, who came from Lyon in June for a fee of 36 million euros (then $41 million) that, now, feels like a bargain. Yet, Guardiola often cannot hide his displeasure with some of Cherki’s antics. After that rabona assist, the City manager urged Cherki to play with the kind of simplicity shown by Lionel Messi, who Guardiola helped to turn into the world’s greatest player.