Rayan Cherki has been on Liverpool’s radar during the January transfer window, but he looks set to remain at Lyon for the time being.
Last week, CaughtOffside reported that the Reds had submitted an enquiry for the playmaker, whose agents had been working on finding him a new club amid the Ligue 1 side’s financial issues.
On Monday, a prominent European journalist revealed details of an offer which had been made to OL for the 21-year-old.
Lyon reject Dortmund offer for Cherki
Taking to X this morning, Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg posted: “Borussia Dortmund have submitted a €22.5m offer for Rayan Cherki in the last few hours. Lyon have rejected the offer. BVB have not given up hope and are still pushing for a transfer.”
He later shared a further update on the situation, outlining: “Lyon still do not want to let Rayan Cherki go. The deal is very complicated.
“When asked by Sky, OL officials stated that several offers by BVB have been rejected and that Lyon are not willing to continue negotiations over Cherki. Sources from OL say that Dortmund are ‘too late’.”
Could Liverpool snap up Cherki in the summer?
Dortmund have certainly been more proactive than Liverpool over the past few days in terms of their pursuit of Cherki, but the rejection of their £18.7m offer shows how determined Lyon are to retain the playmaker.
It seems certain that the Reds won’t push for the 21-year-old in the final hours of the current transfer window, but there remains the possibility of a summer move for the French youngster.
Even before BVB’s 11th-hour bid for the Lyon star, there appeared to be a recognition from Anfield that the scope for a mid-season raid was remote.
The versatile winger/number 10 has five goals and nine assists in 26 games so far this term, producing decent G/A numbers for Paulo Fonseca’s side as they push for a European finish despite the threat of demotion due to severe financial problems.
With a deadline day move for Cherki now seeming extremely unlikely, Liverpool will have another few months to assess his performances at the Groupama Stadium before tabling an offer of their own, having seen Dortmund fall short in their last-gasp efforts to lure him to Germany.
