Lyon winger Rayan Cherki, a target for a number of Premier League sides, has dropped a major hint about the club he most wants to join this summer.
Cherki has made a remarkable impact this season with a total of 39 goals and assists in all competitions, which includes finding the net in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United.
There is growing speculation about a £20m transfer in the summer, especially after Lyon owner John Textor revealed in January that Cherki had explicitly expressed a desire to join PSG the previous summer.
“Cherki has been wanting to leave for three or four seasons,” the American stated. “He had wanted to go to PSG last year. He messaged me saying: ‘I really want to go to PSG’.”
Although Textor vowed not to sell a player to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Cherki’s desire to join the capital club doesn’t appear to have changed.
Cherki was named in Ligue 1’s Team of the Season at the annual ceremony over the weekend, the only outfield representative of a club other than PSG. On stage, the 21-year-old was asked about whether he like to be in the same team of as the other names in the list in real life.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said “I know them all. Ousmane [Dembele] and Bradley [Barclola] are good friends of mine. When you have good chemistry on the pitch, it shows off the pitch too.”
Asked if he was dropping hints about PSG, Cherki smiled and simply said, “I don’t know”.
It might be considered a blow to the English sides in the hunt for Cherki, but Le Parisien claims that PSG are not planning to resurrect their interest in the player. The same report writes of enquiries from Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
Manchester United are also linked, with Cherki on the club’s radar since he was invited for a tour of the facilities at Old Trafford and Carrington at the age of 15.
