Manchester City are willing to listen to offers for Rayan Ait-Nouri when the January transfer window opens, with head coach Enzo Maresca understood to have no long-term plans for the Algeria international.
The 25-year-old, signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2025, has found first-team opportunities hard to come by since Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola in the City dugout this year.
Despite showing flashes of quality when given the chance, Ait-Nouri has not featured in the Premier League at all this season, with his minutes across other competitions also limited.
Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown believes the writing is on the wall for the full-back’s Etihad career.
Speaking to Football Insider, Brown said Maresca “doesn’t rate” Ait-Nouri and suggested City would be prepared to sanction a sale if a suitable offer materialises during the mid-season window.
“It doesn’t seem like there is any place for Rayan Ait-Nouri in this Man City team,” Brown said. “Look at their usual left-backs, you’ve got Gvardiol and O’Reilly, which one of those two would you leave out to put Ait-Nouri in? Realistically, that’s not going to happen.
“He might get minutes here and there off the bench or in cup games, but it’s become clear already this season that he isn’t trusted to play in the Premier League.
“It seems to me that Enzo Maresca doesn’t rate him, he doesn’t see him as a big part of his squad, and he would be ready to let him go in January.
“From the player’s point of view, I expect he’ll be ready to move on as well, because if he’s not playing regularly in this City team then he will want to go and play somewhere else.
“I can’t see him staying at Man City for much longer, it’s clear he doesn’t have a real part to play, so it’s probably best for everybody if he leaves.”
Gvardiol and O’Reilly block the path at left-back
Competition for places in City’s defence has left Ait-Nouri squeezed out. Josko Gvardiol remains Maresca’s preferred option on the left of the back line, while the emergence of academy graduate Nico O’Reilly has further reduced the Algerian’s chances of regular football.
Between the two of them, there appears little room left for Ait-Nouri to force his way back into contention this season.
City’s willingness to let him go marks a shift from earlier in the campaign. There had been suggestions in September that Maresca intended to find a role for Ait-Nouri after he impressed in the Champions League, but his continued absence from Premier League matchday squads has hardened the view inside the club that his long-term future lies elsewhere.
Reports elsewhere have gone further, suggesting City’s football leadership is already working to find Ait-Nouri a new home before the window opens, with a fee in the region of £30m mentioned as City’s valuation.
The club are also said to be open to a loan arrangement that could include a future transfer obligation, a route that would allow an interested club to sign him without committing to a permanent deal upfront.
A number of clubs are credited with interest. Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have long been admirers of the left-back, while City’s fierce rivals Manchester United have also been strongly linked, with manager Michael Carrick keen to strengthen his options at left-back.
United were previously blocked from signing Ait-Nouri on transfer deadline day as City refused to assist a direct rival, though that stance is understood to have softened heading into January.
Interest from continental Europe, including from AC Milan and Juventus, has also been reported.
