Manchester City is pursuing a deal to sign Rayan Ait-Nouri during the summer transfer window, and all parties involved in the negotiations expect the transfer to go through.
The left-back position has been something of a blind spot for Pep Guardiola ever since he moved to Manchester in 2016, with the Spaniard often turning to conventional center-backs like Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake to play there. However, it looks as though Ait-Nouri will be City's first-choice left-back next season after spending the last four years at Wolves.
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Former Wolves boss Gary O'Neil, who was previously a coach at Liverpool, is a big fan of Ait-Nouri, whose departure from Wolves would see his former club receive a significant sum of money. After a game during the 2023-24 season, O'Neil said: “I love Rayan. He’s mad, firstly, and you can see he’s mad in the way he plays.
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"He does five or six Maradona walks a game, which you don’t see from every left-back. We’re trying to take some of that out of him, but use them when he needs them.
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“We’ve improved his fitness levels, and he’s one that you can improve. I don’t think he’s done too much work on understanding the tactical side of the game.
“He’s a great one to work with, he’s fully committed to everything, and there’s a lot of room for improvement with the sort of raw talent that he has. If we can just harness it a little bit, give him a little bit of understanding, calm down some of the craziness, the sky’s the limit for Rayan.”
Rayan Ait-Nouri of Wolves had previously been linked with Liverpool
Rayan Ait-Nouri of Wolves had previously been linked with Liverpool -Credit:Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Ait-Nouri had been linked with a possible move to Liverpool as well, but the Reds ultimately settled on Milos Kerkez as their No.1 left-back target during the offseason
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Kerkez has given the green light to joining Liverpool as the club looks to tie up its main business early on in the summer.
The Hungarian emerged as one of the best left-backs in the Premier League during the 2024-25 campaign, and has been linked with a move to Anfield since last year.
Andy Robertson has endured a difficult season on an individual level and is likely to occupy a back-up role next term, while Kostas Tsimikas could leave Anfield to make way for Kerkez.
Kerkez has told Liverpool that he wants to join the club, and personal terms are not expected to be an issue.
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Seemingly the only thing that needs to be sorted now is an agreement over a fee between Liverpool and Bournemouth.
The 21-year-old is one of several players that Liverpool is working on deals for, with Bayer Leverkusen pair Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz two more players who are expected to move to Anfield.