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Man City now doing background checks as they want to sign £40m Premier League defender who Tottenham bid for

Srinivas Sadhanand

Mon 5 May 2025 9:45, UK

TBR Football can exclusively reveal that Manchester City are interested in signing Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Manchester City do not have a natural left-back on their books, with Nico O’Reilly being an attacking midfielder by trade and both Josko Gvardiol as well as Nathan Ake being centre-backs.

Rayan Ait-Nouri, however has been one of the best players in the Premier League in his position since signing for Wolves in 2021.

Interestingly, Tottenham placed a bid to sign Ait-Nouri but he decided to stay at Wolves and has continued to have yet another impressive season at the Molineux Stadium.

Ait-Nouri’s tremendous technique and the danger he provides going forward are reminiscent of former Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo, who Txiki Begiristain is yet to replace since he initially moved to Bayern Munich on loan in January 2023.

Man City keen on signing Wolves star Rayan Ait-Nouri

Graeme Bailey — TBR Football’s chief correspondent has been informed that Manchester City are conducting background checks Ait-Nouri before they formalise their interest in his services.

Manchester City’s checks are a mere standard practice to discover what kind of a character Ait-Nouri is behind closed doors.

The full-back position is one which Pep Guardiola and Co seemingly consider as a key priority in the summer — as Manchester City hold a longstanding interest in Andrea Cambiaso — who they held talks to sign in January and have maintained contact with since trying to snap him up a few months ago.

Even Arsenal were interested in signing Ait-Nouri, who is justifiably turning heads after having registered 11 goal contributions (four goals and seven assists) in the league for a 13th-placed Wolves side this season.

The good news for the Sky Blues is that Wolves are willing to sell the 23-year-old in the summer as long as their valuation of £40 million is met.

Pep Guardiola has already suggested Man City need a left-back

Last month, Pep Guardiola suggested that Manchester City are in need of signing a left-back and as a result, it does not seem like a coincidence that Ait-Nouri has caught their eye.

Guardiola admitted that City lack a natural left-back on their books via HaytersTV: “Obviously, Nico’s helping us but he’s not a left-back. That’s true. I’ve played with Oleks Zinchenko at left-back, Fabian Delph at left-back. So, we’ve found solutions for many, many years, they give another quality, they help us, Oleks or Fabian for example or sometimes, Rico [Lewis] wants to play there [at left-back].”

“Of course, we can get help from Nathan [Ake] but Nathan, like John Stones has been all injured all season.”

Pep Guardiola revealed that he told Manchester City’s board that for him, what is most important is to have players who are available at his disposal and not injury-prone: “The most important thing is from my point of view is, I said to the club, which players are reliable for the future.”

“They cannot perform if they’re not reliable, if you’re injured. Which players we have can play every three days, three days, three days or cannot play every three days, then build the squad for next season.”