Phil Foden has piled on the praise for one of Manchester City’s blockbuster summer signings in Rayan Cherki, insisting that the Frenchman is “unique” and a type of footballer he has not seen at the club to date.

Cherki has quickly adapted to Pep Guardiola’s methods and established himself as a key member of Manchester City’s frontline since his £34 million arrival to the Etihad Stadium from Lyon last summer.

The 22-year-old is one of the most highly-rated playmakers in Europe, with Manchester City seeing off stiff competition to acquire Cherki’s services in the recent summer transfer window to launch a major revamp of Guardiola’s first-team ranks.

The Frenchman has forged strong partnerships with the likes of Erling Haaland, Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden in attack for the Blues, who are vying for silverware on four fronts in their first season under the stewardship of director of football Hugo Viana.

City remain in an embryonic stage of their transition under Viana, having added Antoine Semenyo to their star-studded ranks from Bournemouth earlier this month as they look to cut a seven point deficit to Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Cherki has assumed the role of architect-in-chief for Guardiola since the notable departure of Kevin De Bruyne last summer, with the midfielder scoring six times and providing nine assists in 25 appearances in all competitions for City this term.

In conversation with Men In Blazers last week, Foden was quizzed for his first impressions of Cherki, having now operated alongside the France international to great success since the latter’s arrival to England.

“He (Cherki) is unique as a player, very special, great vision, great eye for a pass, a different type of player that I’ve seen at (Manchester) City before with his tricks and flicks,” said Foden.

“It’s just a pleasure to play alongside him, a great talent, and only going to get better because he’s still young. Sometimes I still don’t know what he’s going to do; I don’t know if he’s going to flick it, use his other foot.

“The more we play, that’s going to be natural. But sometimes he even confuses me, I don’t know how defenders feel.”

Foden has himself returned to his best this season after an underwhelming 2024-25 season and the Englishman will want to continue to thrive alongside Cherki and co to ensure a strong finish to Manchester City’s campaign.