Paris (AFP)

"Maybe he surprised you, but we didn't." At 16 years and five months old, the crack from Lyon Rayan Cherki bursts the screen with a maturity which does not surprise his partners of OL, training club eager not to toast his nugget.

Saturday during the victory in Nantes (4-3) in the Coupe de France, the dribbling striker, born in Lyon on August 17, 2003, delivered a complete show in "prime time" with two goals in less than ten minutes, followed two assists and a penalty penalty.

The recital of the upgraded kid was already playing on social media when he presented himself, calm and lucid, in front of Eurosport cameras to comment on his performance.

This maturity, "I acquired it thanks to my teammates", declared the one who explodes one by one the records of precocity with OL, club which he joined from the age of 7 years coming from Saint- Priest.

"It illustrates wonderfully the work very well done of the training center of Lyon. This boy in a match showed all his talent", greeted at the time of the Telefoot broadcast Pape Diouf, ex-agent and former president of Olympique from Marseille.

Courted by several large European stables, the N.18 of Lyon signed its first professional contract in July 2019, a lease which extends until June 2022.

Since then, Lyon has used its nugget sparingly. Rudi Garcia certainly launched him in the deep end in October, for the first of his three appearances in Ligue 1, but the Rhone trainer has not yet rewarded him with a tenure in the league.

- Mbappé's wink -

So Cherki chews on his brakes from the sidelines, taking advantage of the rare opportunities offered to shine, as in the two Coupe de France matches played in January.

Faced with fans of Bourg-en-Bresse (7-0), he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of OL. And on Saturday, the skillful dribbler on both feet raised the bar even further, bringing back memories of former hopes Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa, both launched in Lyon at 17.

Kylian Mbappé, another great precursor of French football, had fun with the shower of glowing comments that fell on the head of Cherki, French international under-16 on 2 occasions.

"You shouldn't talk to him about age too much," joked the 21-year-old world champion on Twitter, referring to the formula he himself used in the "Interior Sport" program on Canal Plus. The Paris SG striker explained that a player's age should not be a criterion for a coach.

"As soon as I heard the age, I had frowns that frowned. Me, you don't talk to me about age. (...) You only talk to me about football and level," said Mbappé in a sequence gone viral.

- Garcia takes out the fire extinguisher -

At La Beaujoire on Saturday, Cherki's partners nevertheless took turns facing the camera to calm the game, while highlighting his undeniable talent.

"Maybe he surprised you, but not us," said goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. "Rayan stood out, he was decisive. It is up to him to continue on this spirit, to keep his head on his shoulders."

His trainer Rudi Garcia also took out the fire extinguisher, aware that the media frenzy around his young phenomenon bordered on overheating.

Even if "all that jumps out at the eyes this (Saturday) evening is the two goals, the penalty obtained and the two assists, (...) my role is also to lower the levels because everything the world will bring him to the skies, "commented the former Roma and OM technician.

"It will be a great danger if he does not listen to me any more, that he does not work anymore and that he thinks that it happened, while he is still far from the account", he still insisted.

Sometimes outraged for his individualism and his moderate taste for defensive tasks, Cherki demonstrated on Saturday that he could erase these two weak points, according to Garcia. "If he continues like this, he can continue to progress."

With the long absences of Memphis Depay and Jeff-Reine Adélaïde, the young OL crack will probably have more playing time in the months to come. But he may also have to stick together with newcomers, if Lyon were to recruit other attackers during the winter transfer window.

© 2020 AFP