Rayan Ait-Nouri is the newest member of Pep Guardiola’s Man City squad.
A left-back was high on the Manchester club’s agenda heading into the summer transfer window, and the Premier League giants made their move early, as they wanted the issue addressed before jetting off to the FIFA Club World Cup in America this week.
Man City confirmed the signing of Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves on Monday off the back of an impressive season for the Algerian, who was one of the best full-backs in the Premier League last season, a campaign in which he produced four goals and seven assists.
Despite this, Don Hutchison has concerns about the new Man City star, and the ESPN pundit is not the only one.
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Rayan Ait-Nouri was ‘all over the place’ defensively last season
Last week, Micah Richards said he was worried about Ait-Nouri defensively, and that seems to be a concern shared by Hutchison.
“Rayan Ait-Nouri. I watched him about five years ago, when he was at Wolves. Four or five years ago, I thought one of the best attacking full-backs, I think I’ve seen for a long, long time, defensively over the last 18 months, all over the place,” the pundit said on ESPN FC.
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“That’s at Wolves. Maybe he has better players in front of him, but his defensive skills are not great. So if you look at these signings. When you watch them play, you think, well, they look good, attacking players, but is that what City want?”
“Do they not want a proper left-sided defender who can defend, because when you watch Man City, you close your eyes, you see a goal going against them. It’s a transition that hurts them. But he’s very much an attacking player. He’s played as a false nine for Wolves in a game or two.
“I interviewed their sporting director, Matt Hobbs, who’s now gone, and he said: ‘Unbelievable going forward, but you’ve got to try and rein him in because he’s so offensively minded’. He doesn’t want to defend, or sometimes he can’t.”
Josko Gvardiol is one Man City star who will be delighted about the signing of Ait-Nouri, as it means the Croatia star will be deployed in his favourite position of centre-back next season, and the 23-year-old is the best player to compare the new City signing against.
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
How Rayan Ait-Nouri compares to Josko Gvardiol
Ait-Nouri and Gvardiol are two completely different types of players when they are deployed in the left-back role, as the Algerian star is super attacking, playing almost as a left-winger, while the Croatian star is more defensively minded, although the 23-year-old is still good going forward.
Gvardiol had the most goals scored of any Premier League defender in the English top flight last season, with five strikes, which was only equalled by Nikola Milenkovic of Nottingham Forest.
Player Games Goals Assists Minutes
Rayan Ait-Nouri 41 5 7 3407
Josko Gvardiol 53 6 2 4513
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Josko Gvardiol’s 24/25 stats in all competitions
Ait-Nouri was one goal behind the Man City star, but was way ahead in terms of assists, which is expected given that the left-back is usually deployed much higher up the pitch.
Pep Guardiola will have a plan with Ait-Nouri joining his team, so his defensive deficiencies shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
City’s forwards will certainly benefit from the Algerian’s arrival, and after struggling to break down teams on occasions last season, this is what the Man City boss was looking to address when signing the 24-year-old.