Manchester City‘s Rayan Aït-Nouri has ‘experienced a number of upheavals recently’ and this could lead to a move away from the Premier League side, after his entourage’s latest decision.
The French-born Algeria international started his career at Angers’ academy and spent three years with their first team. In 2021, he left them for Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he played 157 matches, managing 12 goals and 19 assists.
His performances at Molineux helped him secure a big move to Manchester City in June 2025.
The left-back didn’t have a prominent role in his debut season, partly because of an ankle injury and his participation at AFCON. Pep Guardiola handed him 1,605 minutes from 28 matches and favoured Nico O’Reilly ahead of him.
Enzo Maresca replaced Guardiola in the summer, and O’Reilly continued as his first choice left-back. Aït-Nouri has had 15 minutes in the league and made one more appearance in the EFL Cup this season.
Manchester City player’s situation bad to worse
The fullback was hoping to put the Etihad disappointment aside and enjoy regular minutes with Algeria. However, that didn’t happen and his situation became worse.
He was unhappy when Algeria manager Brahim Hemdani left him out of the lineup against Zambia.
The manager initially wanted to bring him on, only to change his mind, after Zambia scored the equaliser. Rayan Aït-Nouri was again called up after the Fennecs regained the lead but refused to get on the pitch.
He then eft the national team camp and returned to Manchester City without playing a minute during the international break. Two days ago, Hemdani confirmed he will decide on whether the defender will feature again for the national team.
Signs point to Manchester City exit
The 25-year-old’s situation with both club and country this season has become worse. He is now ‘at crossroads’ and DZ Foot covers what he has done to try to regain control of his future.
Jorge Mendes spotted him when he was 18 years of age and took him from Angers to Wolves. However, Rayan Aït-Nouri ended ties with the super-agent and became part of CAA Stellar’s stable.
The British agency brokered his transfer to Manchester City, but the player has cut ties.
After a ‘mediocre’ debut season at the Etihad, DZ Foot states Aït-Nouri and his entourage have changed agents again. They have tasked Ali Barat led Epic Sports to take care of his future, after seeing his Transfermarkt value drop from €40m to €35m.
The outlet states the ‘conditions of a potential transfer are becoming clearer’. These are signs he’s looking for a way out of Manchester City. Whether his new representative will look to broker a transfer in January or next summer isn’t clear.
