The mood around Arsenal is a jubilant one at the moment.
Mikel Arteta’s side have made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 08/09 season, and should they manage to get past Paris Saint-Germain, they may have the chance to avenge their 2006 heartbreak if Barcelona get past Inter Milan in their semi-final.
However, should that happen, they’ll need to come up with a way of containing the simply sensational Lamine Yamal, who looks destined to pick up the mantle once carried by Lionel Messi in Catalonia.
Interestingly, the North Londoners may already be trying to sign their own version of the young Spaniard, as recent reports have linked them with another tremendously exciting youngster from the continent who has been compared to the European Champion this season and has even been touted as a future Ballon d’Or winner.
Arsenal's transfer targets.
Before getting to the exciting youngster in question, it’s worth going over some of the other stars touted for a move to the Emirates in the coming months, like Rafel Leao.
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According to reports earlier this month, the AC Milan superstar could be available for about £86m, and while that is an eye-watering sum of money, he could well be worth it, as in just 44 games this year, he’s scored 11 goals and provided 11 assists.
A far cheaper winger who is supposedly on the Gunners’ radar ahead of the summer window is Bayern Munich star Kingsley Coman.
The Frenchman could be available for around £39m and, in just 1603 minutes of action this term, has managed to amass a reasonable enough tally of ten goal involvements.
However, with the former PSG ace set to turn 29 in the summer, he would not be an investment for the future, unlike Rayan Cherki.
Yes, according to a recent report from Spain, Arsenal are one of several teams incredibly interested in signing the Lyon star this summer.
Alongside the North Londoners, the report claims that Manchester City are also keen on the 21-year-old, but having already held talks with the Frenchman, the Gunners are seen as the more likely destination as things stand.
A potential price is not mentioned in the story, but according to other reports from late last year, Lyon have set a minimum asking price of €30m, which is about £25m.
It could be a complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Cherki’s immense talent and potential, it’s one well worth fighting for, especially as he’s been compared to Yamal.
How Cherki compares to Yamal
So, before getting into the other reasons why Arsenal should be signing Cherki this summer, it’s worth examining this comparison to Yamal and where it comes from.
In this instance, it stems from FBref, which looks at players in similar positions across Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one and, in this instance, has concluded that the Spaniard is the seventh most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Lyon gem.
The best way to see where this comparison has come from is to look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including, but not limited to, non-penalty expected goals plus assists, passes into the penalty area, through balls, carries, goal-creating actions and more, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.74
0.72
Passes into the Penalty Area
3.46
3.02
Through Balls
1.03
1.05
Goal-Creating Actions
0.87
0.97
Tackles in the Defensive 1/3
0.16
0.19
Successful Take-On %
48.8%
49.2%
Carries
43.8
44.2
Ball Recoveries
4.05
3.84
Now, while being compared to arguably the best youngster in world football is undoubtedly one reason why Arsenal should sign the Lyon-born monster, it’s not the only one.
Another would be his unreal level of output, as in just 39 appearances this season, totalling 2721 minutes, he has scored 12 goals and provided 18 assists.
That means the “future Ballon d’Or winner,” as dubbed by The Athletic’s Alex Barker, is averaging a goal involvement every 1.3 games, or every 90.7 minutes, which is frankly absurd for someone so young, and we even saw a glimpse of his quality when he scored against Manchester United on Thursday night.
Ultimately, Cherki looks set to become one of football’s next superstars, so if Arsenal can sign him for the reported price this summer, they simply have to go and get him.
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