Wolves have made their second sale of the summer, with Rayan Ait-Nouri completing a move to Manchester City.
The Algeria international has left Molineux to join up with Pep Guardiola’s side for an initial £31 million.
Ait-Nouri completed his Man City medical over the weekend, and following that, it had been expected that confirmation would arrive early this week.
The 24-year-old leaves Wolves after five years at the club, after joining from Angers on an initial loan basis.
Ait-Nouri was always a player who had good potential to leave the club this summer, because of the great season he just had and the length of time he had been at Molineux.
That said, Wolves fans are still gutted to see him go, because he was a brilliant player to watch.
Ait-Nouri has done his first interview over at City, and has revealed there was some input from Matheus Nunes to make the move.
What Matheus Nunes said to Rayan Ait-Nouri as Wolves lose Algerian to Man City
Photo by Jack Thomas - WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images
Photo by Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images
City had tracked Ait-Nouri for quite a long time.
Given his technical ability, he has always felt like a player who may not look out of place in their team and sure enough, they have now landed him.
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Ait-Nouri has been speaking about his move in the first interview as a new City player.
And, perhaps inevitably, Ait-Nouri did speak to former Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes before making the move to the Etihad.
He said: “Yeah I spoke with him. We were always together when we were in Wolves.
“I spoke with him. He told me a little bit about the city! We didn’t speak about the football! We only spoke about the city and the life in Manchester.
“I’m very excited to join Matheus again.”
It is perhaps no real surprise that the pair did not really discuss anything football-related. There will be plenty of time for that, plus Ait-Nouri will have watched City a lot over the last five years or so.
Of course, this may not go down too well with some Wolves fans. Nunes is not the most popular figure around Molineux these days due to the way he left the club.
Nunes went on strike at Wolves in order to ensure his move to Manchester City happened in 2023, and he is now always jeered when the two sides play.
Certainly, Ait-Nouri went about his move to City much better than the Portuguese.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
It was always Man City for Ait-Nouri
Heading into the summer, there had been links to other clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester United.
But Ait-Nouri makes it clear in his interview that it was only really City for him.
He said: “It was one of my goals to play for a club like Manchester City. To be honest, my choice, it was Manchester City in the beginning.
“I said to my family ‘I want to play for this team, I like how they develop the game, how they play’.”