
City Xtra
·12 October 2025
Rayan Cherki’s ex-Lyon teammate deserves Manchester City transfer, claims agent

In partnership with
Yahoo sportsCity Xtra
·12 October 2025
The agent of Lyon and Belgium star Malick Fofana has called on the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Bayern Munich to come in for the forward.
Manchester City refreshed their attacking ranks with Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders in the summer transfer window as Hugo Viana made wholesale changes to Pep Guardiola’s squad following his appointment as director of football.
City bid farewell to Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in the summer, with James McAtee joining Nottingham Forest for £30 million and Jack Grealish moving to Everton on a season-long loan with a £50 million option to buy in 2026.
Pep Guardiola and co are undergoing a period of transition on the pitch as they embark on life without De Bruyne, who was the heart and soul of Manchester City’s attack for the best part of a decade since his £55 million arrival from Wolfsburg in 2015.
Manchester City failed to mount a challenge for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles last term and resorted to third-place and Round of 16 finishes in the competitions respectively in their most challenging year under Guardiola.
However, an array of new signings – rounded off by the notable deadline day signing of Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain – has given a new-look dressing room a much-needed lift after a mass exodus at the Etihad Stadium over the summer.
After a miserable start to their 2025-26 season marked by league losses to Tottenham and Brighton, Manchester City have seemingly turned a corner and have avoided defeat in all competitions since the end of August – taking them to fifth place in the Premier League table.
The Blues welcome Everton and Grealish to the Etihad Stadium next weekend upon the return of club football after the ongoing international break as Guardiola and co look to build on their recent run of form into a testing calendar.
While the 2026 January window is so way off, Manchester City executives have been sent a ‘Come and get me’ call from the agent of Lyon and Belgium forward Malick Fofana, who is looking for a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs in the near future.
Speaking to De Morgen, Fofana’s agent Frederico Pena said: “This is the season in which Fofana wants to show himself to the world, especially at the (2026 FIFA) World Cup,” as relayed by Sport Witness.
“If he succeeds, he (Fofana) can move from Lyon to a top 10 club. At Roc Nation, we strongly believe in him. Liverpool, Bayern, Man City – those are the clubs where he belongs.”
Manchester City are unlikely at present to introduce reinforcements to their frontline in January 2026 but there is an outside chance of a new right-back being on the cards should an opportunity present itself in the market that is deemed too good to turn down.