Liverpool threatened Manchester City deal for Lyon’s Rayan Cherki with Arne Slot talks | OneFootball

Arne Slot held face-to-face talks with Lyon’s Rayan Cherki late last month as Liverpool fulfilled scheduled discussions with the Frenchman over a possible Anfield transfer.

The 21-year-old France international has emerged as the leading candidate for Manchester City this summer in their own pursuit of attacking midfield reinforcement, largely sparked by Kevin De Bruyne’s pending exit from the club.

The Belgian will be bringing an end to his time at the Etihad in the coming weeks after City opted not to hand the 33-year-old a new agreement beyond its current expiry of the end of June, with De Bruyne widely believed to be on the verge of joining Napoli on a free transfer.

As such, Hugo Viana and Txiki Begiristain have been tasked with identifying and doing a deal for a suitable replacement in the current window, but have faced complications with their first choice target due to the finances involved.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz appeared to be the number one candidate for Manchester City until all interest was withdrawn amid concerns over the amount that would have to be invested in the entire package, opening a door for Bayern Munich and Liverpool to do a deal.

And having firmly moved on to Lyon’s Rayan Cherki, and optimism in various camps that an agreement will be concluded ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup, there has been a threat from Liverpool once more and their own interest in the exciting French talent.

According to the information of The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Liverpool’s head coach Arne Slot left his holiday last week and made a trip to the south of France to meet with the Lyon attacking midfielder personally.

While Liverpool are said to be committed to Florian Wirtz, they are seemingly continuing to do due diligence on other options and preparing for all outcomes, as discussions were scheduled with Cherki before their chase for the aforementioned German star accelerated.

As for Manchester City, officials at the club seem intent on doing a deal for the France international and expect Cherki to join Pep Guardiola’s squad for the summer’s Club World Cup alongside a number of other new faces.

Hugo Viana is expected to finalise an agreement with AC Milan for Tijjani Reijnders sooner rather than later, while there is also a willingness in all camps to complete a move concerning Wolves’ Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Beyond that trio, it remains to be seen how much more business Manchester City will do, with interest in Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, and Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento identified as the number one target for the Etihad’s right-back position.