Aït-Nouri's Dilemma: Manchester City's Best Left-Back Faces Exit
The defeat at Nottingham Forest hurt Manchester City in more ways than one.
A third straight Premier League loss, a 3-1 reverse in the tenth round, has exposed cracks in Enzo Maresca’s side. Behind the scenes, it may also have pushed Rayan Aït-Nouri closer to the exit.
A press report on Monday claimed the Algerian defender is now seriously considering leaving the Etihad as early as January, with that Forest match described as “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for him. Not because of what happened on the pitch, but because he wasn’t even on it.
Left out of the squad entirely at the City Ground, Aït-Nouri watched another league game pass him by. Another weekend, another omission. For a player many around the club regard as City’s best left-back, the situation has become untenable.
He has not played a single Premier League minute this season.
The numbers are stark. His only start in a City shirt this campaign came in the League Cup, against Championship side Norwich City. On that night he finally had grass under his boots and the ball at his feet, and by all accounts he impressed. It did not change his league status. The door to the starting XI stayed shut.
Maresca’s choices have left the Algeria international on the outside looking in, and patience is thinning. Limited game time has turned into no game time at all, and his exclusion from the Forest squad appears to have crystallised his thinking. If nothing changes quickly – and dramatically – he is expected to push for a move in January, or at the latest next summer.
Uncertainty now hangs over his future at the Etihad Stadium. Inside the dressing room, players know what a run of three straight league defeats can do: it forces hard questions, not just about tactics and shape, but about careers and trajectories. Aït-Nouri is one of those questions.
There was already interest. Manchester United explored a loan deal at the end of the last transfer window, sensing an opportunity to prise a frustrated talent from their rivals. City did not slam the door, but they did set a condition: any agreement had to include a purchase clause. That demand killed the move.
The story is unlikely to end there. With his situation unchanged and his status slipping further into the shadows, the prospect of a January exit is growing. United, having tested the waters once, are expected to revisit the idea when the window reopens.
If City truly believe they are sitting on the best left-back at the club, they now face a brutal choice: play him, or prepare to lose him to a neighbour desperate to close the gap.
