Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca spoke about Rayan Cherki's showboating and what he brings to the team

There was a pause from Enzo Maresca when he was asked how he felt about Rayan Cherki's tricks and flicks against AEK Athens. Not as long as the seconds must have felt like for Kervin Arriaga as the defender went flying for Manchester City's third goal in midweek, but it was still significant.

Cherki's feint for that goal was in keeping with his evening; from the first whistle, he had played with an arrogance and quality that few show in the game and what makes him such a favourite with City fans and neutrals. It wasn't as blatant as doing kick-ups in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal last season, but it wasn't far off.

Pep Guardiola didn't always enjoy a streak that winds opposition players up, and the hesitation from Maresca signalled the same. City's manager may wish Cherki takes different options at times, yet at the same time it is so baked into Cherki's personality that trying to remove that side of his game would risk reducing the output of the player.

"I like when the players are happy, for sure, 100 per cent," said Maresca. "But I also like simple things. I think the most difficult thing in football is to do the easy things, don't complicate. But sometimes you have players that are so good, like Rayan, that they need to do that. So I'm very happy when he's doing that, also because I know that he's happy.

"This is something that he needs to keep. He loves the ball, he wants the ball. This is something that I'm not going to remove from his skills, absolutely, at all. But also we need to find the right balance. Again, when we are able to contact with him in the right position, we create chances.

"And when he's in the right position inside the box, he creates chances for himself or scores goals. That's why we are lucky that he's with us and hopefully he can score more goals and more assists for us.

"In terms of numbers, goal and assist, he's doing fantastic. When he's in the right position, he's creating chances for the team and he also scores goals for the team and for himself. That's why it's so important that we are able to find him in the right position."

Maresca made the point after the Sunderland game that he would rather win 1-0 than 5-3, and his Leicester and Chelsea games were not known for being as entertaining as this City side are. The manager wants every one of his players to be in the right positions to receive the ball rather than going hunting for it.

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At the same time though, Cherki's flicks and tricks are baked into his personality and what make him such a special talent. Just as Maresca is looking for the right balance between attack and defence with the team, there is a perfect place that he sees Cherki in that can make him even more effective.

"Rayan is a top player but we have another 20 top players so they are all different. It's a matter of finding the right balance between what we want to do when we have the ball and what we want to do when we don't have the ball. So it's just about that," he said.

"I think Rayan in this moment is one of the best players in Europe when he is in the right position. That means when we are able to find him between the line it's always dangerous and when he is inside the box with the quality as if you remember the Liverpool goal or the other night goal, they are quite similar in terms of inside the box with lots of quality.

"If we are able to keep him there and if we are able to find him between the lines so in the right position, I think he is one of the best players in Europe. Sometimes because he loves the ball and he loves to move a lot, most of the time it's out of position but when he is in the right position it's always a weapon for us."