Rayan Cherki pounces on chance to showcase maverick talent at Lyon | Eric Devin

The unfortunate truth about many footballing mavericks, especially in the attacking third, is that they are defined by inconsistency. Within a career, within a season or even within a match, the same level of audacity that allows the sport’s most mercurial talents to succeed can also prove their undoing. One too many stepovers and possession is lost, pressing and tracking back is an afterthought, while the desire to arrow a shot into the top corner from a tight angle looks a misstep when a cutback to a late-arriving midfielder would be the better choice.

We’ve seen these outcomes time and again, but our love for these players, those capable of a moment of magic, never seems to cease, even as they are far less frequently seen in the modern game. Ligue 1 is no exception to this – witness the many lives of Hatem Ben Arfa, the meteoric rise and rapid decline of Eden Hazard, and even the contemporary hair-pulling over Ousmane Dembélé.

An adherence to more malleable and balanced tactical systems (4-2-3-1 has become something of an anomaly of late), as well as the importance of work-rate also means that such players’ gifts are less frequently nurtured. Sometimes they’re afforded a cameo off the bench, but too often they’re afterthoughts, despite price tags or reputation. This axiom holds true across Europe as well – see Jack Grealish’s limited opportunities at Manchester City, Kenan Yildiz rarely starting for Juventus and Arda Güler remaining a fringe player for Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.

This was certainly the case last season at Lyon. Even as Pierre Sage’s installation as manager helped oversee the team’s historic run from relegation candidates to sixth place – a finish they’ll hope to better in the current campaign – and European football, there remained an elephant in the room. Sage’s strong preference for 4-3-3 with orthodox wingers – usually Ernest Nuamah and Saïd Benrahma following the latter’s arrival at the start of the year – meant that there was similarly no place for a purely creative player, given the pair often leave more work for their full-backs than others.

Another winter signing, 19-year-old winger Malick Fofana, was also left out of the team, but he had just arrived in a new country, with scant professional experience. The glaringly unused talent was academy product Rayan Cherki. In a team with fewer homegrown players – save the returning Corentin Tolisso and Alexandre Lacazette – only Maxence Caqueret would be considered a true Gone.

Yet, despite Cherki’s attacking talent, which has been manifestly prodigious since he burst on to the scene in a Coupe de France match against Nantes almost five years ago aged 16, he was often an afterthought for Sage, starting fewer than half a dozen league matches following the start of his tenure. That situation scarcely looked to improve over the summer, either. Between the arrival of Georges Mikautadze – a similarly swashbuckling presence – and Cherki’s dithering over the signing of a contract extension (he is now tied to the club for an additional year – until 2026), he wasn’t even in the squad for the team’s first four matches.

He did score a late goal on his first appearance, a frustrating defeat by 10-man Marseille, but that had more the air of Sage throwing out all of his options, and Cherki happening to be in his gaze as the manager cast his eye towards the bench. However, while it took two more league matches for Cherki to be named in the starting XI in that competition, he started the team’s first Europa League match, scoring and impressing throughout.

In that match, he played as a No 10 in a 4-2-3-1, a formation he has used on occasions this season, but since proving himself against Olympiakos, he has performed with consistency. Now on four goals and four assists from fewer than 900 minutes of play in all competitions, he’s also impressed on both flanks in a 4-3-3. If not an orthodox winger in the mould of his former teammate Bradley Barcola, Cherki is – at last – this season offering the kind of consistency that the now-Paris Saint-Germain player has. That consistency, which is still improving – Cherki is still only 21 – has also come with something of a change in philosophy, if not tactics from Sage.

Pierre Sage (right) has acknowledged how players such as Rayan Cherki (left) are able to preserve their energy levels in a possession-based system. Photograph: Alex Martin/AFP/Getty Images

Whereas last year’s team looked to play on the counter, this season they have been more focused on possession, something the manager reflected upon following Saturday’s comprehensive 3-0 win over Angers. This shift has helped Cherki as well as Lacazette – the talismanic veteran has five goals in his last five appearances in all competitions.

“We have been able to preserve players who have a had lot of playing time such as Lacazette or Cherki,” Sage said. “It shows how important they are to our team and it allows me to preserve them for Thursday’s game [against Eintracht Frankfurt] … The best way to defend is to have possession of the ball. I prefer that we have a lot of possession in the match … to suffocate our opponents.”

Such a marked change is rare for a manager but it’s a credit to him in a still-nascent career to recognise the abilities of his players and adaptin a way that has helped the team. The luxury of not battling relegation will surely have helped. Since that loss to Marseille in late September, Lyon are unbeaten in nine in the league, and have won six, a run of matches in which Cherki has started all but three.

With the transfer rumour mill in full swing despite his contract extension, as well as the parlour game of which country – France, Algeria or Italy – he will declare for as a senior international, Cherki’s future is one to watch, given his recent form. This is especially true ahead of a crunch match against an out-of-sorts Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday. Maybe, just maybe, there is space for a maverick in today’s game.

Talking points

What a match for Donovan Léon! Auxerre have arguably been the surprise of the season, nipping at the heels of those in the European places despite spending virtually no money this summer, but a match against an unbeaten PSG side this weekend looked a far more stern test. As it was, it took some doing to hold the unbeaten champions to a scoreless draw, but as well as the previously mentioned hammer-and-tongs tactics of Christophe Pélissier, the veteran’s 11 saves made the difference. Léon, at 32, became just the fourth Ligue 1 player to receive a “10” from L’Équipe, a deserved reward for his performance.

Derbies are always spicy affairs, and with both Nantes – who had a recent loss to Le Havre suspended by crowd trouble – and Stade Rennais, led by newly-appointed Jorge Sampaoli, under pressure, Sunday’s affair was sure to be more of the same. It was, although much of the fireworks were compacted into the final minutes, starting with a wondergoal by Moses Simon, followed an equaliser for Rennes being ruled out and finally Sampaoli being sent off. French football is never lacking in drama, and this encounter once again proved the axiom of the country’s regional rivalries being as riveting as ever.

Rennes’ head coach Jorge Sampaoli (black coat) is sent off during a tetchy defeat by Nantes. Photograph: Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images

Finally, a word for Jonathan David. The Canada striker, likely to leave Lille in the summer, continues to be irrepressible for a side that has been dearly stretched by injuries and the Champions League. On Friday against fellow European Cinderellas Brest, he was at the double, bringing his total to 11 league goals this season and 17 in all competitions. Now the league’s leading scorer, he also now has 100 in his career. If this is indeed his final season in France, he is certainly on his way to going out in style.