Rayan Cherki has been nominated for both the Premier League best young player award and the league's top individual player prize, a double recognition for a first season in England that ended with 10 goals and 15 assists in 52 matches for Manchester City.
The nominations come after Cherki left Olympique Lyonnais for City about a year ago and helped Pep Guardiola's side to two trophies, the FA Cup and the League Cup. It is a striking show of regard for a player who was not an outright regular starter under Guardiola, yet still drew enough attention from his peers to be shortlisted in two of the league's most closely watched categories.
That matters because the PFA awards are decided by votes from the players themselves, which gives Cherki's place on the list extra weight. For City, it is another sign that his debut campaign landed well beyond the simple numbers, even before he heads into his first World Cup with France in a little more than a week. His season has already been acknowledged in one of the sport's most crowded voting rooms.
Cherki's recognition also leaves one obvious question hanging over the race: which of the league's other standout performers will stand beside him when the votes are counted. The award list has not yet been settled in public terms, but Cherki has already done enough to make his first Premier League season hard to ignore.
