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Meet Rayan Cherki: The 16-Year-Old Lyon Prodigy Tipped to Emulate Kylian Mbappe

ROMAIN LAFABREGUE/Getty Images

Bewildered by the flurry of tricks to which Rayan Cherki had subjected him, Nantes left-back Charles Traore did what any player might reasonably be expected to do in the circumstances: He fell flat on his face.

Hemmed in against Lyon's right-hand touchline and with two Nantes players closing in on him, Cherki shuffled the ball from his left foot to his right, then rolled it to the right using the sole of his left foot and feinted to move forwards, only to bring himself to an abrupt halt. It was at this point that the hapless Traore lost his balance and found himself face-down on the turf, a position from which he watched helplessly as Cherki nonchalantly knocked a pass down the line to an overlapping team-mate.