It is no surprise that Manchester City is interested in Wolves Wing-back Rayan Ait Nouri. With his silky touch and the ability to receive the ball in tight spaces, he succeeds in the eye test for a Pep Guardiola player and has taken a step forward this season.
Even in an uncomfortable year for Wolves, Ait Nouri has been advanced. Starting 37 from their 38 Premier League matches turned out to be his robustness and with four goals and six assists from Open Play, the Algeria International End Product added to his game.
The talent has been clear for a long time since he first arrived in the Premier League of the French club Angers in the summer of 2020. Ait Nouri always appeals with his specific preference for stepovers and dragging back, always likes the ball at his feet.
It is a function, even if an attempt at Stepover recently almost led to a red card in the city, while a failed sleep saw that he was insufficient for the goal of Brentford on the last day. But these are from bijters. Ait Nouri is in eighth place in the Premier League for successful dribbles.
Sixty such take-on is unusual that a player apparently works for a large part of the campaign as part of a back five. But the issue of the positioning of Ait Nouri has never been a simple issue, as Wolves' former assistant manager Edu Rubio van Wolves explains.
“When we were there, people criticized us a bit because they thought we didn't play him very much, so they assumed that we didn't like him as a player,” Rubio tells Sky Sports, referring to his six months as an assistant of Julen Lopetegui at Wolves.
“That was not true. We wanted to play him because we always thought he was a very good player. But the problem was that moment of transition. He had to understand when he had to defend and when he had to attack. He had to learn the trade from a full-back.
“At that time he was not really a wing player, but he was not a wingback either and he was not a full-back. He was a player who tried to find his best position and his own understanding of the game. He did so well.”
It is a balanced assessment of a player who can be brilliant to look at, but is still susceptible to expiry. In August, Chelsea's Noni Madueke helped himself a hat trick in a 6-2 victory in Molineux. “We had no left back,” said boss Gary O'Neil at the time.
Since then, Ait Nouri has moved ahead to Wing -Back under Vorror Pereira, where he has done better – and defensively. He is one of the top dozen for tackles. “He can defend,” says Rubio. “I think he is very good in defending one-on-one.”
Ait Nouri has shown this last season that he can do that at both ends of the field. He is the only nominal defender in the Premier League who is one of the top 25 players when it comes to winning the ball in the defensive third and the attacking third of the field.
The expectation is of course that a move to the city would see that Ait Nouri has more touches of the ball, while the number of defensive actions that he requires would fall. The fact Ait Nouri is more than a defender is part of the profession.
Positionally, the role of a full-back of the city actually requires more work in the opposition half than that of a wolf wing. “His technical skill is what makes him an interesting player for teams who like to be the most important actor,” says Rubio.
“In teams that build from behind and turn everything around the possession-based football, your full-backs would also be asked to turn around and he can certainly handle everything in because of his technical skills. He could certainly play that role.
“There are things to learn. Things that can develop him are his consciousness, his position and his understanding because the game of Man City as well as is positional and possession. It is very important to maintain their structure and their positions.”
But crucial is that Ait Nouri has shown that “he is able to change position” and it is this quality that distinguishes him from some of the other attacking left backs that earn praise, such as Fulham's Antonee Robinson and Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez.
Compared to Ait Nouri, they are more straight players. Guardiola is likely to be attracted to the player who can enter to support the structure in the way Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabian Delph did in the past from the left for the city.
The downside would be that Ait Nouri is not as physically explosive as Robinson or Kerkez. Both players make many more sprints per 90 minutes than he did. Both players cover much more land at high intensity than they have. It is a different profile.
“He is a different kind of player,” Rubio admits. Although he offers the reservation that there may be more of the 23-year-old IS-IS, which is evident from the fact that the top sprint speed of Ait Nouri is actually higher than that of Kerkez. Maybe he can do it.
“We don't know it yet. Maybe he is not exposed to that in his role at Wolves. Maybe he is not asked to do that by the coach. Maybe he needs a more specific training when it comes to the physical side. I am sure he could deal with that.
“I think he has everything, all the ingredients, the physique, to develop that side, so that I would not be too concerned. Sometimes what we see from players is also a reflection of how the team plays. Then they go to another club and people don't see it coming.”
Whatever the truth is, Ait Nouri has shown that he does not need an electric pace to slide further than opponents and city players have less room to encounter. Someone who can make openings if the space is more limited can be more useful for them.
“I think his technical competence, his ability and skill in tight areas, keep the ball close to his feet and can dribble, be able to get the team the third by riding the ball, all these things make him a very interesting player for Man City.
“Man City may now need some of those players, players who can break the lines a little more and get the team in different ways, not only through combination play, but also because of their smart dribbling and their pace.
“Teams are set up in a way that it is more difficult to get them on with only ownership. They are now more resilient. Defenders are both athletes and technically good. There has been that evolution and I believe City will have to recruit players who can do both.
“Possession is the game that Pep wants to play, technically very competent, and rightly so. But they will have to have the legs to cover the ground so that they can make the transitions in and out of teams that can keep an intense game.”
Rubio expects Manchester City to be back next season to win trophies regardless of. But the acquisition of the stylish Ait Nouri, a Guardiola waiting player, would only help. “I'm sure he would do very well if he went there.”
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