Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri has today been asked about the transfer interest in him from Manchester City.
Wolves have already confirmed that Matheus Cunha has left the club to join Manchester United.
And before that, Pablo Sarabia was announced to be leaving as a free agent.
But Rayan Ait-Nouri has always been a player who could depart Molineux this month, having been with Wolves for five years now.
He joined on an initial loan basis from Angers, and turned his move permanent a year later.
Ait-Nouri has impressed a lot over the last two seasons especially, and finished 2024/25 as the defender with the most goal contributions in the Premier League.
Today, it’s been reported Manchester City expect to sign Ait-Nouri – and now the player himself has been asked about the rumours.
Wolves star Rayan Ait-Nouri responds when quizzed about Man City
Wolves fans knew there would be a chance Ait-Nouri would leave in this window.
It now seems like he will, with City keen to step up their interest.
They’re playing at the upcoming Club World Cup, and want to tie up a deal before that tournament commences.
Today, Ait-Nouri was asked by reporters at an Algerian airport about the transfer rumours involving him and Manchester City.
Perhaps predictably, the star was keen to play down all the talk, although he did not dismiss any of the claims that have been made today.
In a video uploaded to the El Heddaf YouTube channel, he said (translated by @arobasedzair2): “For the moment, I’m not focusing on that, we have two important matches with the national team. We’ll see what happens next.”
Algeria national team now have two friendly matches coming up against Rwanda and Sweden, with Ait-Nouri standing to add to his 13 caps.
A potential double whammy for Wolves
Given all the reports today, it very much looks as though Ait-Nouri will be moving on from Wolves in the coming days.
City’s interest in the player has been fairly long standing, and that is no real surprise given the Algerian’s technical quality.
He has often felt like someone who would not look out of place in a technical team like City, so it’s no surprise they’re ramping up their efforts to sign him.
With Cunha having already gone, Wolves’ left side is taking a real hit.
Cunha and Ait-Nouri have been a terrific double act for Wolves over the years, and sporting director Matt Hobbs now has his work cut out to try and replace both of them.
