Summer Special | Rayan Ait-Nouri

17th June 2024

Arguably the biggest turnaround at Wolves over the past year has been the resurgence of Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Rewind 12 months, the left-back appeared in one of the club’s final 11 games under Julen Lopetegui, with questions arising whether his three-year spell at Molineux has reached its conclusion.

A summer of change off the pitch worked to his advantage, however. The Algeria international was given the nod ahead of Hugo Bueno, and Gary O’Neil, evidently, didn’t regret that decision, with Ait-Nouri growing into a key player for the Old Gold.

Although he suffered disappointment in January as Algeria crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the group stages – despite being one of the favourites to lift the trophy – last season was Ait-Nouri’s best for Premier League appearances as well as attacking returns, as he flourished under O’Neil.

On enjoying life in gold and black

“I’m very happy with a very good season. We won a lot of important games with the new manager, and me and my teammates are very happy, and hopefully they will be the same next season.

“The previous season [2022/23] was a little bit hard for me, but I have a lot of confidence and I knew what I could do on the pitch, and this season I was able to show that.

“It was a very good season for me, and for everyone. For sure, I’m very happy here.”

On growing as a player and person

“I’m very happy. This season has been very good mentally, very good for my head, and the coach, he gave me a lot of confidence, the fans also, and I think I did well this season.

“For sure, I’ve grown up this season. When I first came here, I was very young, and I didn’t have a lot of experience, but I have that now.

“The Premier League is very hard, it’s the best league in the world, and you need to be ready every single week. This season was good for me in that way, and hopefully next season will be the same.”

On increasing his attacking output

“For sure, it’s good to score and be involved in the goals, but the most important thing is the team. I prefer to win the game and I didn’t score, than score and not win.

“But I was able to score a few goals during the later weeks of the season and it was very good for the team.”

On becoming a regular for Algeria

“I was very happy to go and represent my country at AFCON and it was a very good experience.

“We didn’t play very well, but it was still a good experience and hopefully the next competition with Algeria, we will be very good, for this I’m sure, because we have a lot of good players, and hopefully we can do well because I love a lot my country.

“The experience did help me here, although when I came back I was a little bit sad because we didn’t play very well, but it was still a very good experience and good for my growth and for my head to perform on the pitch for my country.”