Player Focus: Real Madrid Youth Cheryshev Emerging as a Top Creator at Villarreal

Three La Liga players made Whoscored.com’s European team of the week last weekend. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi being in there was no surprise after their latest match-winning hat-tricks. Fewer onlookers would however have predicted the inclusion of Villarreal’s Spanish-raised Russia international Denis Cheryshev prior to the weekend.

But the recognition was deserved. Cheryshev was man of the match in his side’s 4-0 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday, scoring the key second goal and assisting a third on his way to an 8.79 rating. This was, however, no flash in the pan performance either. Sunday’s star man award was Cheryshev’s third of the season already, and no other Villarreal player has more than one. Such displays see the former Real Madrid youth teamer currently ranked as the 19th best player in Spain so far this term. The now 23-year-old has taken a while to arrive on the Primera Division stage, but he is making the most of this latest opportunity.

Cheryshev has been one of Spain’s best providers this season. Sunday’s assist was his seventh to date - putting him joint third in the rankings with Messi, and just one behind leaders Ronaldo and Koke. Other high-profile creators, including James Rodríguez (5), Arda Turan (3) and his former Sevilla teammate Ivan Rakitic (1), have been left trailing.

This is the type of company which Cheryshev himself feels he belongs in - although it did not always seem likely. His unusual back-story means his progression has been relatively widely watched both in Spain and elsewhere. Born in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, he played his first organised football in the youth system at Sporting Gijon, as his Russian international forward father Dmitri was playing there at the time. After moving with his father to lower-division Burgos, the younger Cheryshev found himself involved in Madrid’s La Fabrica youth system when he was aged just 12.

After working his way up to B team level at Madrid, Cheryshev did well for Castilla - scoring 22 goals in 109 appearances. Despite this record he did not follow teammates Álvaro Morata, Dani Carvajal and Jesé Rodríguez into the first team reckoning at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Then senior coach José Mourinho gave him just one Copa del Rey first team appearance against Alcoyano in the 2012/13 season, and appeared not to be impressed.

Other clubs had taken notice of the Segunda Division displays however, and Cheryshev joined Sevilla on loan in summer 2013. Hamstring, ankle and toe injuries intervened and he only made four appearances for the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan side – and was sent off for picking up two yellow cards after entering as a second half substitute in one of those. Such complications presumably contributed to neither side seeming keen to make the deal permanent last summer.

Cheryshev senior’s contacts back home meant his son was not forgotten in Russia. Excellent displays at under-21 level, and concern that Spain might poach him, lead to a first senior cap in November 2012. Although included in the provisional squad before last summer’s World Cup, he just missed out on Fabio Capello’s 23-man final selection. He has since featured regularly during European Championship qualifiers - however that is something of a mixed blessing given their recent struggles.

At club level, though, this season could not really have gone any better. Cheryshev started on the opening day against Levante - and scored his first Primera goal in a 2-0 win over Levante, while picking up a first man of the match award with an 8.73 rating. His best display of the season so far came at home to Rayo Vallecano in September when he grabbed by the throat a game his side were losing 2-0, with his contribution to a comeback 4-2 win including two excellent crosses to provide simple finishes for teammate Luciano Vietto.

Although not as important to the Yellow Submarine as midfield leader Bruno Soriano (7.57 overall rating – the eighth best in La Liga), Cheryshev’s creativity, usually playing in an attacking role on the left of midfield, has also been key to his team’s start to the campaign. Coach Marcelino has plenty of other options for the position - including long-serving Cani, youth product Moi Gómez and former Barcelona youth star Javier Espinosa. But the new man has settled quickly and has immediately become an automatic pick. In fact the only La Liga game he missed this season was Madrid at home, due to a clause in his loan deal.

There is a suggestion that he might struggle to maintain his high assist return throughout the season. His 7 assists have come from just 15 chances created. This could suggest that Cheryshev has benefitted from clinical finishing from his teammates. Or it could well be that when he spots the potential to create a goalscoring opportunity, he provides passes ideal to be finished off. Either way the odds are his assist rate will fall off at least a little as the season progresses.

Goalscoring is something which could be improved upon. 38 shots in La Liga this season have only brought two goals. An average of just 23.5 passes per game, in a possession-based side like Villarreal, suggests a tendency to fade out of the game at times. Pass completion of just 70.9% is just the 19th best among Marcelino's squad. Five yellow cards already also suggests a fiery side which could be better channelled. 

But these can be looked on not as flaws to his game, but aspects to improve. A player who turns 24 in late December is probably unlikely to return to Madrid and nail down a first team place, but there is of course no shame in that. Sevilla decided against making their loan deal permanent last summer but Villarreal are unlikely to make the same mistake next June.

How well do you think Cheryshev has been playing this season? Let us know in the comments below