According to French football expert Jonathan Johnson, Chelsea will find it difficult to sign Lyon star Rayan Cherki this summer.

Johnson told Caughtoffside: “Rayan Cherki continues to attract speculation and the latest is that Chelsea are in for him. He’s a very exciting talent, somebody who looks to have a great career ahead of him.

“Similarly to Eden Hazard when he first established himself in Ligue 1, he looks very technically skilled, versatile, and he’s probably the best young player to emerge from Lyon’s youth academy for many years, possibly even since Karim Benzema.

“The only problem with players at Lyon at the moment is the club’s current financial situation – they’ve had limits imposed on them by French football’s financial watchdog. Lyon now have to raise funds, but they’re also very reticent to cash in on some of their young talent.

“Castello Lukeba is of major interest to RB Leipzig now that Josko Gvardiol is nearing a switch to Manchester City, so it’s hard to imagine a situation where OL risk cashing in on Lukeba, Cherki and also Bradley Barcola, who is of major interest to a number of clubs in Europe, especially PSG.

“It’s going to be an interesting and potentially challenging summer for Lyon where all those players have major interest and I think it makes it trickier for any one deal such as Cherki to Chelsea to come off, especially as Lukeba is the one who’s furthest along in sealing a move away at this moment in time.”