130 minutes, and a text at the end of it
130 minutes. That was Rayan Cherki’s whole 2026 World Cup, a thin return for a player pitched as a difference-maker on the day the squad was announced.
Didier Deschamps and Guy Stephan had not forgotten him. L’Equipe reports the pair sent him a message once the tournament finished, and the words landed with the player.
They wished him a good season and told him they see a real future ahead. With one caveat: he has to keep his frustration under control.
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The gesture against England
That caveat was not thrown in casually. Cherki wore his feelings openly all tournament, never breaking into the rotation.
It came to a head in the third-place game, a 4-6 loss to England. Deschamps told him to push higher up the pitch. The Lyon academy product answered with an irritated gesture toward his own coach. Everyone saw it.
In private, once things cooled, he was hard on himself. Disappointed by that performance. Disappointed by the whole month.
Both sides have moved on
Deschamps is gone, Zinedine Zidane has Les Bleus now, and that changes how the message reads. It was an assessment, not an instruction from a coach who still picks the team.
Cherki has his rhythm back at Manchester City, where the minutes he lacked in the summer are there for the taking. His route back into the France squad probably runs through them.
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