Rayan Cherki is reportedly open to joining Real Madrid, who might look to sign the 18-year-old French whizkid in a Bosman move in 2023.
According to a report by Spanish outlet Defensa Central, Rayan Cherki faces an uncertain future at his current club Lyon after entering the final year of his contract. The 18-year-old French whizkid is the subject of interest from Real Madrid over a possible Bosman move in the 2023 summer transfer window.
Rayan Cherki is one of the most promising young prospects in France, with fans and pundits regarding him as one of Lyon’s best-ever academy products alongside Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema. The teenage prodigy joined Les Gones from Saint-Priest in 2010 before making swift progress in the Ligue 1 club’s youth division.
The 18-year-old broke into the first-team setup at the Groupama Stadium in October 2019 aged 16. Cherki has made considerable progress since then, although he is yet to become a mainstay in the Lyon attack. The French whizkid has nine goals and ten assists in 63 appearances for Lyon. But he faces an uncertain future at the Ligue 1 club after entering the final year of his contract, with his situation alerting Real Madrid.
The interest from Real Madrid is hardly surprising, considering the reigning La Liga champions tend to poach the brightest young prospects across the world. Such an outlook has fetched them current first-team stars like Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo Goes, all of whom arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu as promising youngsters.
Cherki also falls in that category despite not being too productive in the Lyon first team in the last couple of years. The 18-year-old can be a long-term solution in the final third for Real Madrid amid uncertainties surrounding the future of Marco Asensio.
In addition, Eden Hazard’s spot in the team is not set in stone, with the Belgian international enduring a steep decline in performance levels since joining Real Madrid from Chelsea. Cherki has previously admitted to dreaming about joining Real Madrid. And he sees Los Blancos as his next club.
But Lyon will look to tie him to a new contract, and a contract renewal might force Real Madrid to push the move for the French whizkid by a few years. It will be interesting to see how the situation around Cherki evolves in the coming months as the Merengues look to sign him in a Bosman deal in 2023.
