Rayan Ait-Nouri is set to embark on his first campaign as a Manchester City player, following his £31m move from Wolves in June.
The Algeria international showed great attacking instincts last season for a left-back, helping Wolves stay in the Premier League by scoring four goals and providing seven assists in 37 appearances.
In 29 Premier League outings each for Manchester City, neither Jeremy Doku nor Savinho – now a target for Tottenham – registered more goal involvements.
This may well be the reason why Rayan Ait-Nouri has been playing in a No.10 role at times during training, impressing Pep Guardiola too, according to Guillem Balague.
Pep Guardiola impressed by Rayan Ait-Nouri as No.10 position claim made
The highly respected Spanish journalist spoke to BBC 5 Live Sport about what he has heard from the Etihad Stadium lately, and made an interesting comment about the new arrival from Wolves.
Posting a summary of his thoughts on X – previously known as Twitter – Balague wrote: “Pep is impressed by left back Ait-Nouri who loves coming inside and is a great number ten too!”
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The 56-year-old also shared that his fellow Spaniard has been pleased by what Tijjani Reijnders is showing, following a £46.5m move from AC Milan.
Balague added: “(Guardiola also impressed) by Reijnders who can do the Rodri role, but is good breaking lines of pressure with a pass (the best in Serie A last season) and scoring.”
What happened the one time Rayan Ait-Nouri played as a central attacking midfielder at Wolves?
The African defender must have also impressed in a No.10 role during Wolves training before his move to Manchester, as Gary O’Neil fielded him in that position during a Premier League game away to West Ham.
Wolves suffered a 2-1 defeat at Molineux back in April 2024, although Ait-Nouri, who Riyad Mahrez admires, impressed regardless.
WhoScored shows that the Algerian recorded a 7.3 match rating from his No.10 role – higher than any other Wolves player. Of all players involved, only James Ward-Prowse ranked higher with an 8.1 rating.
Ait-Nouri completed 100% of his attempted 29 passes, took two shots, embarked on four successful dribbles and won three freekicks for Wolves. No player on the pitch made as many dribbles.
Of course, Manchester City will face tougher opponents than West Ham next season, but Ait-Nouri has clearly shown in the past that he is comfortable in the No.10 role.