Man City news: 'I would pay for a ticket to watch Cherki' — Pastore hails Cherki amid lament for instinctive players

A classic playmaker who lit up the Parc des Princes with his magic between 2011 and 2018, Javier Pastore dazzled Paris despite injuries too often cutting short his brilliance. With that type of player increasingly rare in the modern game, El Flaco told Top Mercato which current players still make him tick.

'There are fewer and fewer players like that'

Despite leaving PSG on something of an unfinished note, Pastore left Parisian supporters with unforgettable memories, that elegant, refined style of a playmaker who always played with his head up, looking forward, with an incomparable vision of the game.

Now 36, having retired in 2023 after stints at AS Roma, Elche and Qatar SC before becoming an agent — most notably for Enzo Fernandez — Pastore admits he no longer really sees players with his profile in today's game.

"There are fewer and fewer players like that. It is a reality, but we get the players we produce. At clubs, the emphasis is increasingly on physical players who operate more on the flanks. It is also a choice made by coaches from a very early age.

The players who end up in the top division have been developed that way. If you do not let them dribble and improvise when they are being formed, they will not do it when they reach the highest level either," the Argentine told Top Mercato at an event organised by FedEx as part of their Move Like A Pro campaign.

Cherki: 'a unique mix of old and modern player'

While naming Dro Fernandez, the holder of the No. 27 shirt at PSG, just as he once was, as his young successor at the club, Pastore also acknowledged an affinity with Rayan Cherki. The French international at Manchester City is one of the rare players who still embodies that instinctive, old-school profile.

"I absolutely love Cherki! For me, Cherki is a unique player, a blend of an old-school footballer and a modern one," he said enthusiastically. "He has the pace, the dribbling, the ability to go wide or cut inside. He is a player of today, but he always has a trick up his sleeve — a nutmeg, a dribble or something else — like players from a previous era. That makes him a unique player, someone I would pay for a ticket to watch if I knew he was playing. He is not a normal player, he does not do normal things,his game impresses me enormously."

Pastore equally impressed by Michael Olise

In a slightly different register — more about dribbling and direct play, but with the same gift for the assist — Pastore also expressed his admiration for another Frenchman: Michael Olise, the Bundesliga's leading assist provider this season with Bayern Munich on 29 assists.

"He is incredible, he is in scintillating form, a little like what Dembele offers here in Paris. He always has one extra dribble to pull out when everyone thinks he is going to shoot. He does it very well. He has been an individually outstanding player this season. And collectively, Bayern are also a very strong team. The game against Real Madrid could have finished 3-0 or 4-0 even if it ended up 2-1," concluded the Argentine, an eternal lover of beautiful football.