Rayan Cherki’s entourage rejects claims he forced through France call-up | OneFootball

According to L’Équipe, Rayan Cherki’s (21) entourage have strongly rejected the claim that the Olympique Lyonnais star put pressure on Didier Deschamps to select him in the France team by threatening to respond to a call-up from Italy or Algeria.

The French outlet writes that the France U21 manager, Gérald Baticle, had expected to have the Lyon player during the upcoming UEFA European Under-21 Championship. However, reports emerged that Cherki was tempted to reject playing in the competition in order to represent either Italy or Algeria if he wasn’t called up to Deschamps’s squad.

However, his entourage has rejected these rumours, saying, “You don’t know Rayan well to think he could have put pressure on anyone or used another national team. It’s also disrespectful to the coach, whose message has been very clear. Rayan has never had the slightest exchange with a coach or the president of another federation. Even if he could have claimed it, he doesn’t have the nationality of any other country.”

Cherki will join up with the France national team when they prepare for their Nations League semi-final against Spain on the 5th of June in Stuttgart. The winner of this game will play either Germany or Italy in Munich on the 8th of June, the losers will play in Stuttgart on the same day.

GFFN | Nick Hartland