Man City confident of deal for Rayan Aït-Nouri before Club World Cup
Manchester City are confident of agreeing a deal for the Wolverhampton Wanderers full back Rayan Aït-Nouri before the start of the Club World Cup.
Although a final agreement is yet to be reached and personal terms still need to be worked out with the 23-year-old, there is confidence from all parties that a transfer will happen.
Aït-Nouri, who scored five goals and assisted a further seven in 41 appearances for Wolves in the most recent campaign, has a year left on his present deal, with the club holding an option to extend it for a further year.
City's scouts have been long-term admirers of the left back, who initially moved to Molineux on loan from Angers in 2020 before making the move permanent the following year.
The club have prioritised that position after playing Josko Gvardiol there for most of his City career. The Croatia centre back was Guardiola's most regular left back before the academy graduate Nico O'Reilly, also playing out of position, impressed in the final few months of the season.
City want to get as much transfer business as possible done before they fly off to the Club World Cup a week on Thursday. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the City chairman, said last week they would aim to give Pep Guardiola everything he needs in this window to help the club fight for the title next season after finishing third in the Premier League this time around. 'Last summer we should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed. That ended up costing us this year,' he said.
City fly to the United States for the tournament on June 12 and Khaldoon stated their intention to have the squad as complete as possible before that trip. They are edging closer to agreeing a deal with AC Milan for Tijjani Reijnders, with the Netherlands midfielder expected to cost about £50million. They are also in talks with Lyon over Rayan Cherki, who would cost approximately £35million.
If City are able to agree deals for both midfielders, it would cast doubt over a move for Morgan Gibbs-White. City had been favourites to land the Nottingham Forest playmaker, with many confident he would make a move to the Etihad Stadium, but the club could instead turn their attention to strengthening other areas of the pitch.
City will be without Mateo Kovacic for the Club World Cup after the club confirmed the Croatia midfielder has had surgery on an achilles injury. Their first game at the tournament is against Wydad AC of Morocco in Philadelphia on June 18.
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