Rayan Cherki and the scenario Liverpool can’t ignore

Manchester City’s financial rules case has produced one of the stranger subplots of the season. Found guilty on 114 charges, City are facing punishment that could stretch as far as relegation, and that uncertainty has already started to shape conversations in other boardrooms. According to TeamTalk, Liverpool are among the clubs watching Rayan Cherki closely, alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

A player Liverpool already know well

This is not a cold interest. Liverpool were linked with Cherki before his £30.4m move from Lyon to Manchester City in the summer of 2025, and eighteen months on, circumstances may be handing them a second look. Cherki has started this season well under Enzo Maresca, including two goals in City’s 4-1 win at Crystal Palace in August, a display Maresca himself described as close to complete. If City’s situation forces a sale, nobody should expect Liverpool to get him for anything close to what City paid, but the fact that his stock has risen rather than fallen only makes the idea more interesting.

It helps that the timing could hardly be sharper. City travel to Anfield this weekend, giving Liverpool a direct look at Cherki in one of the most charged fixtures of the season, even if nobody seriously believes recruitment decisions get made on the back of ninety minutes.

The obvious complication

Where this gets complicated is in the detail rather than the headline. Liverpool already have Florian Wirtz occupying the central creative zones that Cherki himself likes to operate from, and spending big on a second player chasing the same pockets of space is the kind of recruitment Liverpool have tended to avoid. Cherki’s versatility, his ability to start from the right and drift inside, offers some flexibility, but it does not remove the basic question of whether two players with overlapping instincts can both start regularly.

There is also the matter of price. Even a City side forced into a fire sale would not be giving away a 23 year old with Cherki’s end product, especially with PSG, Real Madrid and Chelsea all reportedly keeping tabs. A relegation would reduce City’s leverage, not eliminate it entirely.

Worth tracking, not worth expecting

None of this amounts to a deal in the making. City’s punishment has not been decided, Liverpool have made no approach that anyone has confirmed, and the entire premise rests on a legal process that could still land somewhere less dramatic than full relegation. What it does confirm is that Liverpool’s recruitment staff will be paying attention regardless of how Sunday’s game goes, because a genuine City exodus would reshape the market for a short but significant window.

For now, this sits firmly in the category of situations worth monitoring rather than business worth expecting. If City’s fate changes and the market opens up, Cherki’s name will be near the top of plenty of lists, Liverpool’s included. Whether he ends up fitting alongside Wirtz rather than competing with him is the question Liverpool would actually have to answer before going anywhere near a fee.