It will take time to see the best of Rayan Cherki at Manchester City | OneFootball

Over recent weeks, Manchester City have had several players return from injury. Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Rayan Cherki have all returned from lengthy injury lay-offs. Each player will need time to work their back to full fitness and into a City lineup that is unbeaten in their past nine games in all competitions. In the case of Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush, they have either established themselves or had opportunities to start games earlier this season. Rayan Cherki hasn’t had that opportunity yet. In the case of Cherki, patience is needed as it will take time before we see his best at Manchester City.

Rayan Cherki is coming from a long way back regarding his fitness.

Unfortunately for Rayan Cherki, he suffered a thigh injury at the end of August. He missed seven matches before returning to the bench for Manchester City’s 1-nil win over Brentford at the GTech Community Stadium at the beginning of October. Since then, he has come off the bench during the latter stages of Manchester City’s most recent wins over Everton and Villarreal. Cherki has shown touches of class in those appearances. But what can be forgotten is that Cherki is coming from a long way back in terms of fitness.

When Rayan Cherki returned to training, Pep Guardiola told the media that City would be cautious with his fitness. Guardiola said that if Cherki were to reinjure his thigh, he could spend months on the sidelines. That is a situation that City, and Rayan Cherki, are eager to avoid.

It will take time before we see the best of Rayan Cherki at Manchester City.

The clamour to see Rayan Cherki strut his stuff for Manchester City is there. You only have to glimpse at social media to see it. Cherki looms as a potential match-winner for Pep Guardiola’s side. But being realistic, it will likely take time before we see the best of the French international at City. He’s coming from a long way back in terms of his fitness, and the more he trains and gets minutes off the bench for now, the more he’ll build into life as a City player.

The hope is that Cherki can become the player he seems destined to become under Pep Guardiola. He possesses technical ability and talent that is rarely seen. He needs time to get fit, and work his way into the Manchester City starting lineup. That should come in time, but it may not happen overnight, given the injury that Cherki is returning from.