Pierre Sage hails Rayan Cherki as almost godlike after Bournemouth turnaround | OneFootball

Crystal Palace head coach Pierre Sage has hailed Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki as almost godlike, praising the 23-year-old’s match-winning gifts before City visit Selhurst Park on Friday.

According to NY Times, Sage, who previously worked with Cherki at Lyon, outlined how to restrict him. In City’s Premier League opener on Sunday, Cherki came off the bench with his side 1-0 down to Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium, then set up two goals to seal a 2-1 win.

Cherki joined City from Lyon in summer 2025 for €36m plus €6m in add-ons, figures equivalent to about £30.3m and £5.1m. His debut season returned 10 goals and 15 assists in 52 games as City lifted the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Sage said many doubted Cherki would succeed, but he did not share that view, and urged the playmaker to give more for the team without the ball while trusting his attacking instincts. He felt Cherki often read the game better than him and added the best way to contain him is to cut off the passes, since with possession he can produce the unexpected. Told Cherki had called him a genius, Sage countered that the player is the genius and mused that only a god would be higher still.

A Lyon academy graduate, Cherki debuted at 16 in 2019 and went on to record 29 goals and 46 assists in 185 games for the club. He has two goals in 14 caps for France and featured in six of the team’s seven matches at this summer’s World Cup.

He was one of four City players, alongside Nico O’Reilly, Antoine Semenyo and Erling Haaland, named in the 2025-26 PFA Team of the Year on Tuesday. City opened the Enzo Maresca era with that Bournemouth win, while Palace began Sage’s tenure with a 2-0 defeat at Everton last Saturday.

Source: NY Times

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