Rayan Cherki almost joined Paris Saint-Germain for less than half the fee Manchester City ultimately paid for him, former Lyon owner John Textor has revealed.

Cherki joined City for an estimated €39m (£34m) ahead of the Club World Cup in June, having made 185 senior appearances for Lyon after coming through their academy.

The mercurial attacking midfielder did not immediately break into Pep Guardiola's first-choice lineup, but since playing his way into City's team, he has been outstanding.

Since the start of November, no player from Europe's top five leagues has more assists than Cherki's six, with the City man also scoring twice in eight matches in that time.

Cherki has averaged 3.89 chances created per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, the most of any player in the division to play at least 200 minutes.

But things could have been very different, with Textor – who stepped away from his day-to-day role at Lyon in pre-season – revealing the playmaker almost stayed in Ligue 1.

"Cherki was supposed to go to PSG for €15m," Textor said, via RMC Sport.

"There was a very unusual clause in his contract, which wasn't a true release clause, but it still gave him some leeway to leave." 

"In the end, if he had been entirely our player without all these complications, we would have got more for him.

"But getting over €30m for a player whose release clause was set well below that amount... I think, financially, we did as well as we could."

Cherki's 3.24 open-play chances created per 90 minutes in the Premier League, meanwhile, are the second-most of any player to feature for 200 minutes or more this season, after his City team-mate Jeremy Doku (3.44).

Textor hopes Cherki's success will lead to other Lyon academy products being targeted by Europe's elite clubs in the future.

"When a player who came through the OL academy leaves and performs so well at a higher level, obviously it adds value to OL and to the academy for the future," Textor said. 

"So, I think we should simply be proud of what he's doing. It's a collection of human highlights that we're all watching. 

"It just so happens he plays for my favourite club when I was young, Manchester City, so I'm not completely upset about it."

Lyon, who agreed to sign Real Madrid forward Endrick on a six-month loan deal on Tuesday, are next in action against Monaco on January 3. Manchester City, meanwhile, visit Nottingham Forest on Saturday.