Rayan Cherki is one of those players who gets you on the edge of your seat anything they’ve got the ball.
The Frenchman had already been making waves when he was at Lyon, and since his transfer to Manchester City, his game has gone to another level.
He has retained his flair and trickery while adding more goals and assists to his arsenal. Not to mention, he has undergone an insane body transformation and looks to be in the best shape of his career.
His impressive performances have made him a permanent fixture in the French National Team.
Cherki, who often has his training and pre-match clips with Phil Foden go viral, tried something similar with Kylian Mbappe, but the French skipper shut it down real quick.
The Man City star was trying to do flicks and one-upmanship with Mbappe before proceeding to do a Flick Up. Mbappe noticed he was about to get violated by Cherki, and the Real Madrid frontman halted the move immediately.
In a Flick Up, you keep one leg planted on the floor and, with the other leg, roll the ball backward. Then, flick the moving ball up in the air with your toe, and quickly hit the ball into the ground so that it bounces upward/forward depending on the angle you want it to move.
With this move, you can either bounce the ball above the opponent’s head if you bounce it upward hard enough or nutmeg them if you bounce it forward.
The Flick Up is a common move in Futsal and Freestyle football. It has been made popular in traditional football by the likes of Marcelo and Thiago Alcantara.
Here, Cherki was trying to meg Mbappe, but the Real Madrid star caught onto it and stopped it immediately.
Mbappé il a vu Cherki voulait faire une brésilienne il a confisqué le ballon direeect 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/YKsEQJB34r
— NKs 🐉 (@YsNcss) November 12, 2025
While Mbappe may not have been a fan of that particular move, he is certainly a big fan of Cherki.
In a recent interview, Mbappe was all praise for Cherki, calling him an innate, spectacular talent and saying that he has integrated into the France group and Man City team very well.
A special talent. He has a gift that he’s in the process of exploiting. It’s an innate, spectacular talent. He has integrated very well into the [France] group and at Manchester City, which is not easy. I hope he continues like this.
Mbappe has often complained about how his performances in the French team have struggled without the creativity of Paul Pogba.
He claims that without someone like Pogba creating for him in the team, he cannot make runs like he used to, and he’s forced to change his movements, which influences his performances.
With a creative wizard like Cherki coming into the team to create chances for the forwards, it’s no secret why Mbappe loves playing with him and why the two are getting along so well.
Cherki seems to be loving his budding partnership with Mbappe as well. He was spotted doing Mbappe’s celebration in training as the spirits seemed great ahead of France’s clash against Ukraine.
Hahaha Cherki doing Mbappe’s celebration in training. He’s such a fanboy 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/6ygi0ucklL
— The Galacticos (@RmadridElRey) November 13, 2025
After a win against Ukraine, France has 13 points in 5 games, which means they have qualified for the World Cup group stages.
But with Giroud and Benzema retired, Pogba unlikely to be at the World Cup, and Dembele always a doubt due to his constant injury issues, the burden to score and carry his country will fall on Mbappe’s shoulders yet again.
However, with the creativity and camaraderie of the likes of Cherki, Olise, and Barcola, France will be hoping to repeat what they were able to do in 2018 and win the World Cup next year once more.
