The "nameless" boy who is less than 22 years old, the cornerstone of Manchester City s reconstruction of midfield?

Guardiola seems to be determined to rebuild Manchester City's midfielder. The Blue Moon's performance after Rodri was injured last season must have made Guardiola feel scared now, so this summer, his top priority for signings was placed on the midfield.

Within a few days, Manchester City officially announced two heavyweight signings, introducing two midfielders Reindez and Serky from AC Milan and Lyon respectively. Compared to Reindez's reputation, Serky, who is less than 22 years old, seems a little "nameless". who is he? What special thing is he that can attract Guardiola's attention and regard him as the cornerstone of Manchester City's reconstruction?

In fact, Serky left a deep impression on Manchester City before he was 16 years old, so he was almost destined to join the Blue Moon.

On September 19, 2018, Sherkey made history against Manchester City. The wind was very strong that day, and the Lyon Youth Team challenged the Manchester City Youth Team away, and the game was held at the Manchester City Youth Training Stadium.

With eight minutes left in the game, Serky came on as a substitute.

Four minutes later, he received the ball less than 10 meters in front of the goal and scored the third goal of the Lyon youth team. In that game, Lyon Youth Team won 4:1.

In this way, Serky was recorded in history: at the age of 15 and 33 days, he became the youngest goal scorer in history in the European Youth League (U19).

Like all "prodigy", this is just one of many records that Serky set in his brilliant career.

In January 2020, he became the youngest goal scorer in the history of the first team at Lyon at the age of 16 and 140 days. At the age of 18 and 60 days, he became the youngest player in Lyon's official 50 official appearances in history.

Growth

Serky was born and raised in the suburbs of Lyon and ranked third among the five boys in his family. On the road to football, he received strong support from his family, his father was a passionate amateur player, while his mother played a pivotal role in the decisions made in his son’s career.

Serky joined Lyon Youth Training Academy when he was seven years old. The club’s strong local scouting network ensures that most talented boys in the area can be excavated and signed and will not be poached elsewhere.

Lyon not only has a tradition of nurturing top football players, former Arsenal forward Alexander Lacazette and Chelsea defender Marlo Gusto are both their graduates. They have also produced Sherky's favorite attacking midfielder or second striker position, with former Newcastle United star Hartm Ben Alfa and 2018 World Cup champion Nabir Fekier both graduates.

Serky's skills have been outstanding since childhood. He has a perfect sense of ball, a natural sense of balance, and infinite imagination in a small space, which has excited fans.

Bruno Genesio was one of the first to compare Serki to Ben Alpha, who served as head coach of Lyon before Serki made his first appearance for Lyon's first team.

Serky's hunched back and running is reminiscent of one of Manchester City's most popular legendary players, Georgia international, who once excited fans of Maine Road in the 1990s.

Unlike Ben Alfa and Jinklaze, Sherki is a right-footed player, but you can hardly tell that he is one of the top players with the strongest feet in recent years. This ability gives him a unique advantage: his left and right foot selection range is the same when preparing to defeat his opponent.

Or, as Henry, who coached the French U21 team in 2023 and 2024, said: "I have never seen any player in history who can ride the ball so fast as he does with his feet."

Toughness

Sherky's greatest wealth can be said to be Serky's greatest wealth.

From a very young age, the youth team coach has noticed that he aspires to be the best player. When facing the media, he always has a calm and firm momentum, which implies that he has a very strong concentration.

Last year, Serky's inner tenacity was fully demonstrated. He was selected for France's 2024 Olympic squad, but in six games he only played once and only played for a few minutes on the bench. After the Olympics, when he returned to the club, he was excluded from the training of the first team in Lyon - in the French terms, he was "put on the shelf" - he did not return in late September until the contract dispute was resolved.

Such setbacks may make a person with insufficient resilience give up on himself, but Serky will not do so. He showed strong resilience on the court. He continued to play efficiently, playing a decisive role in Lyon's final finish in Ligue 1 and reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.

He received a series of honors at the end of the 2024/25 season - being on the list of five-man shortlist for the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, being selected for the Ligue 1 season's best team, winning the Ligue 1 assists (11 times) and the UEFA Cup assists (8 times, setting a record for players in a single season), and winning the UEFA Cup Young Player of the Season (the winner of this award last season was Werz).

Breakthrough in the French national team

Sher basically selected for the French national team for the first time in the month and participated in the European League held in Germany, which is no surprise.

His parents have Algerian descent and his father has Italian descent, so he is qualified to play for multiple national teams, but he accepted the invitation from French coach Didier Deschamps.

On June 5, when the UEFA European League semi-finals between France and Spain reached the 63rd minute, the Gaul Roosters fell behind with a big score of 1:5, and Serky came on as a substitute..

In a 30-minute exciting performance, he excited the French fans who came to Stuttgart and millions of fans who watched the game at home: he volleyed with his left foot outside the penalty area, and then assisted Kroo Muani with a perfect internal cross. His pass and dribbling created a threat many times, helping the French team to tie the score to 4:5.

In August 1994, Zidane came on as a substitute against the Czech team in France and scored two goals in his debut. Since then, Serky's debut is arguably the most thrilling French team debut in 31 years.

This means that France now has three offensive stars, the other two are Michael Olise of Bayern Munich and Desiré Duer of Paris Saint-Germain. The formation of the new trident will make the performance of the Gaul rooster very worth looking forward to in the coming months.

After Manchester City's upcoming challenge, sherkey turned his attention to the 2026 World Cup, but the first problem he has to solve is to adapt to life in Manchester.

His transfer fee is relatively low, only €36.5 million, and in return for the renewal of his contract with Lyon last year, the Ligue 1 club agreed to accept the reduced offer (if not, they will be required to pay compensation to the players).

Moderate transfer fees mean that Serky may avoid overloading psychological burdens due to his high value, like other Premier League players. This may give him more space to better adapt to the team's role.

However, he gives you the feeling that it has nothing to do with him. He seems to enjoy the challenge rather than avoid it.

Serky is working to be the best self and looks unlikely to be knocked down.