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The last two games have seen Manchester City delight supporters with arguably their performances of their season, first scooping the Carabao Cup with victory over Arsenal at Wembley and then dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup with a 4-0 thrashing on Saturday.
Sharing in fans’ joy at the two results has been Rayan Cherki, who has added to an already strong case to be considered a cult hero at the Etihad Stadium with an array of on and off-pitch antics over the course of the last few weeks.
The Frenchman is the latest in a recent series of City players to bring just as much enjoyment to supporters with his personality as he does his football, so join City Xtra in an exploration of eccentric Blues from the past few years.
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Rayan Cherki
The 22-year-old has grabbed headlines with his maverick behaviour of late, so it makes sense to start with the summer signing from Lyon.
Cherki’s naturally languid and effortless style already lends itself to mickey-taking, so it wouldn’t have come as a surprise to City fans that he took up the role of taunter-in-chief at Wembley as Arsenal’s quadruple hopes faded away in the second-half.
It took the playmaker all of five minutes after Nico O’Reilly‘s second goal to seemingly decide the game was over and his side were now in procession mode, chesting down a switch of play and producing a series of kick-ups before passing the ball on.
Arsenal defender Ben White seemed irked, booting Cherki when he next received the ball and sending him sprawling in a heap of apparent agony; only apparent, because an alternative angle revealed the City man peeking his head up from the theatrics to show that he was actually fine.
Pep Guardiola has seemed to struggle juggling Cherki’s sometimes flamboyant tendencies with how to utilise him best in the team, but the pair clearly maintain a strong relationship – evidenced by the player giving his boss a playful but seemingly forceful shove in delight when the final whistle went to confirm City as Carabao Cup winners.
He was later spotted casually lying on the Wembley turf scrolling on his phone. Not all of Cherki’s idiosyncrasies are just for show, though; another viral clip of the Lyon native saw him perfectly play for time by leading Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Martinelli a merry dance in and out of their box – and one of the highlights of the weekend just gone was his delightful double-touch pass to Antoine Semenyo in the build-up to Erling Haaland‘s second goal against Liverpool.
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The victory over the Premier League champions wasn’t without incident for City’s no.10 either. The latest in a seemingly endless stream of reshareable clips saw Cherki casually play the ball away when under pressure from Florian Wirtz, before quickly realising that the pass didn’t have enough on it and scrambling to retrieve the situation, smiling widely as he did so.
Cherki’s afternoon highlight reel ended with yet another bizarre scene as TV cameras picked him out taking his seat on the bench – wearing the Liverpool shirt of France teammate Hugo Ekitike, before swiftly being told to take it off by a member of the backroom staff. It’s been quite the run of memorable moments of late – keep them coming, Rayan!
Ederson
They say you have to be crazy to be a goalkeeper and the man who held the gloves at the Etihad Stadium for the nine years before last summer certainly ticked that box.
Ederson was renowned for his speed in coming off his line to sweep up opposition attacks, but that fearlessness was also liable to cause incident; the Brazilian rushing out of his goal resulted in his own injury at the hands of Sadio Mane in 2017, and Eric Garcia suffering a blow from his goalkeeper in 2020, with the Spaniard’s subsequent treatment on the pitch watched on with a look of pure bemusement from Bernardo Silva.
A similar expression, perhaps tinged with a tad more disapproval, adorned Pep Guardiola’s face when an Ederson sweep against Wolves in 2019 led to the keeper exchanging passes in midfield with Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan.
The now-Fenerbahce man could also pose a threat to safety off the field; ever-willing to throw himself into the celebrations whenever City lifted silverware, a video from the 2023 treble parade shows Ederson letting off a confetti cannon atop the players’ bus, almost blasting the unaware and precariously-perched Sergio Gomez full-pelt.
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A few weeks prior, Ederson had also dyed his hair blue in the aftermath of the Blues sealing their third straight Premier League title. As you do.
Jack Grealish
Arriving at the Etihad Stadium with a reputation as a free spirit both on and off the pitch, Grealish lived up to that promise in both regards at various points of his time in Manchester.
Ever-happy in front of a camera, the Englishman was always a favourite interviewee for television companies after City successes; inviting Roy Keane and Gary Neville out to celebrate in Manchester after the 2021-22 league title win, debating the likely victor of a prime Kyle Walker vs Thierry Henry match-up on the pitch in Istanbul after winning the Champions League, and admitting to having been ‘in the toilet feeling sick all morning’ prior to the 4-1 win against Liverpool in 2023 – all being standouts.
Some players like to keep their alcohol-infused celebrations away from the spotlight after major triumphs but the 30-year-old certainly isn’t one of those.
City fans at the 2022 Premier League title parade delighted in a particularly gruff-sounding Grealish insisting that Pep Guardiola signed him due to his ability to beat Kyle Walker one-on-one in his time with Aston Villa – and journalists were treated to the winger sauntering through the mixed zone after the Champions League final win, beer in tow and singing along to the supporters’ chant to the tune of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’.
Sergio Aguero
Of course, you don’t need us to tell you how much value Manchester City got from Aguero on the pitch but the greatest goalscorer in the history of the club was also a beloved character away from the field.
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Never afraid to let his Argentinian spirit show – see his feisty meetings with David Luiz for proof – the striker was full-blooded in his defence of a City fan back in 2017.
Raheem Sterling‘s last-minute winner at Bournemouth triggered a mini pitch invasion at the Vitality Stadium and one travelling supporter had been knocked to the ground by a steward, with Aguero quickly arriving on the scene to defend the fan. Police and Kun’s teammates calmed the situation, and after a brief investigation, the forward was cleared of wrongdoing.
Aguero offered further insight to his personality during the Covid pandemic in 2020, beginning to stream on Twitch during the lockdown. Phoning Argentina teammate Lionel Messi at the behest of his commentary and missing a chance while playing as himself on FIFA and mirroring his in-game character’s hands-on-head reaction were memorable moments.
