Frenchman Rayan Cherki has been the subject of positive media reporting in the last few weeks for his particularly stellar performances for Manchester City, barring the small issue of his showboating in a recent outing for the Premier League side.
The latest praise he has received has come from his teammate, Antoine Semenyo, who praised the former Olympique Lyonnais wonder kid as “one of the best players in the world.”
“He’s one of the world’s best,” City winger Semenyo said after Manchester City’s thrashing of Liverpool in the FA Cup over the weekend to make their ninth straight semi-final in the competition and keep their chances of a domestic double—and possibly a domestic treble—alive.
“He can literally do anything with the ball, so he makes my life easy,” Semenyo continued. “I know that he’s going to drop and he’s going to try and find me behind or play to my feet, so it just makes it easier.”
Semenyo was one of two goalscorers on the day, scoring in between an Erling Haaland hat trick as City thrashed Liverpool 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2025/26 FA Cup. This victory comes after they claimed the EFL (Carabao) Cup trophy by defeating Premier League leaders Arsenal just before the international break.
City, who have dropped out of Europe, are nine points behind Arsenal in the top flight but have now claimed one domestic title. They are closer to a second one and can still pull an upset in the run-up to the Premier League title.
Semenyo, Haaland, Cherki, and others are making the impossible possible, and fans are enjoying what they are witnessing. Semenyo, particularly, is very impressed with Cherki.
“I remember my first day in training,” Semenyo, who joined the Cityzens in January, said. “Just some of the skills he was pulling up, I thought, ‘What kind of player is he?’
“He’s a top player. Creative with the ball, and we love it.”
The Ghanaian winger also commented on the club’s possible title haul, following their drawing close to the FA Cup.
“I feel like there’s so much aspiration, so many goals that we want to achieve this season. There’s more to come, and we just have to keep going.
“It’s the most important part of the season now, so we just want to win as many games as we can. Every game’s the final now, so we just have to keep pushing and see what happens.”