Guardiola signs him, but he'll say goodbye to City if Real Madrid calls him: 'He's my...'

Manchester City has strengthened itself in the best possible way ahead of this Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola's team is coming off a season that hasn't been good at all, so it has had to turn to the market. For this reason, it has decided to secure the services of Rayan Cherki, former Olympique de Lyon player.

The Frenchman has been one of Ligue 1's great gems over all these years. He was even on Real Madrid's radar after Zinedine Zidane decided to recommend him to Florentino Pérez. The president decided not to bet on him and never gave the green light to this deal.

All this despite the fact that the player's dream has always been to join Real Madrid. He even admitted it just a few weeks ago in an interview given to Lyon's official media. His desire is to play at Bernabéu and he would look very favorably on this option.

Nevertheless, within the Madridist organization, they're not reconsidering his arrival at all. Basically, because he plays in a position that's already more than covered. Now, in addition, Franco Mastantuono will arrive, a footballer for whom a very serious bet has been made.

Obviously, they'll keep following him and will stay up to date on his development. In fact, at Valdebebas, they admit they really liked his match against Spain in the Nations League semifinals. Even so, as of today, things would have to change a lot for him to be seen in Spain's capital.

A new stage 

The paths of Cherki and Real Madrid are far from crossing. He, meanwhile, is aware that he has a new stage ahead of him that is, so far, the most important of his career. He has earned the right to take a significant step forward in his career and he'll hope to keep growing under Pep Guardiola's guidance.

His first challenge will be this World Cup