Former Lyon boss Pierre Sage turned Rayan Cherki into a world beater and could perhaps do the same at QPR.
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QPR remain under a cloud of uncertainty since the end of the Championship season with head coach Marti Cifuentes on ‘gardening leave’ and questions over who will lead the team next season.
Cifuentes could still return to the role but that looks to be an increasingly unlikely situation as time goes on amid reports of a fall out with chief executive Christian Nourry. Several names have been touted as potential replacements for the Catalan coach, including former Lyon manager Pierre Sage.
The 46-year-old was sacked by the French outfit at the end of January having been handed the role on a permanent basis after first being appointed as interim boss in October 2023. Lyon were bottom of Ligue 1 when Sage stepped up to the plate and he oversaw a remarkable turnaround to help the club finish sixth and qualify for the Europa League. The team also reached the final of the Coupe de France, where they lost 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain.
Pierre Sage frontrunner for QPR role
A poor run of results in January of this year, which included a cup exit against amateur side Bourgoin-Jallieu, led to Lyon owner John Textor giving Sage his marching orders. The manager was replaced by Paulo Fonseca.
Sage began his work at Lyon with the youth system and has earned a reputation for cultivating youth stars, none more so than attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki. The 21-year-old is a product of the Lyon youth academy and has flourished under Sage.
Cherki is known for his technical ability and for, as Breaking The Lines puts it, his ‘exceptional range of passing’. His awareness and vision is also praised, along with his ball carrying skills and versatility.
Speaking about the player’s development, Sage told The Athletic: “My project with him was to help him become the player he is, to become the player he can and should be.”
Recalling one away match at Toulouse last season, he added: “Toulouse were winning 2-1. I looked at him [on the bench] and I asked him, ‘Are you angry? Are you nervous?’. But not nervous when you can’t do anything, nervous to fight.
“He looked at me with the eyes of the tiger. I thought, ‘Maybe he’ll be good today’. He was crazy. It was the Cherki game. We won 3-2.”
Cherki almost left the club last summer but ended up extending his stay with a new contract, committing his future to the club until 2027. Sage said: “I told him when he came back, ‘Now this kind of thing, you have to put into the entire game. So you have to attack, you have to press with the team, you have to manage the balance between the two, but you have to stay the player you were’.
“We see the player he is now. I’m happy because every player can be at their best for three games, but Rayan is one of the best in every statistic in Europe. He has something really special.”
Rayan Cherki success story can inspire former Spurs man Kieran Morgan
The development of Cherki, who is now valued at £20 million according to ManchesterWorld, is certainly one Sage should be proud of. Should he get the QPR job, it’s perhaps of particular significance to youngster Kieran Morgan.
The 19-year-old was signed for the QPR Development Squad last summer after leaving the Tottenham Hotspur set up as a free agent. It didn’t take the midfielder long to be promoted to the senior side and Morgan went on to be a bright spark in an underwhelming campaign at Loftus Road, racking up 1,613 minutes of first team football.
The teenager certainly has a bright future and, with some early shared skills with Cherki, Sage could turn Morgan into a monster by implementing whatever progress plan he did with the Frenchman.
In other news, QPR and West Brom boost in pursuit of Tottenham coach Ryan Mason.