Wolves were beaten by Manchester City on Friday night – but that didn’t stop Micah Richards from piling the praise on one star.
Vitor Pereira saw his winning run finally come to and end at the Etihad Stadium.
Wolves were missing Jorgen Strand Larsen through injury, and the Norwegian was arguably missed, with the visitors spurning some great chances in the first-half.
The biggest opportunity came when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde fluffed a pass to Marshall Munetsi for an easy tap-in.
Pereira was pleased with his sides efforts and, while there was a drop-off in the second-half, Wanderers certainly played fairly well, against a side who still have huge quality despite their problems this season.
After the game, pundit Micah Richards singled out one star for praise, admitting he’s now one of his favourite players in his position in the Premier League.
Micah Richards hails ‘outstanding’ Rayan Ait-Nouri
Rayan Ait-Nouri has really come to the fore in recent weeks for Wolves.
He had a tricky start to the current season, and had a few really poor performances right at the start of the campaign.
But the Algerian has constantly been a threat, and has 11 Premier League goal contributions this season – no defender has more.
Ait-Nouri should perhaps have scored for Wolves in the first-half against City at the Etihad.
But he still came in for high praise from Micah Richards, who said on Sky Sports: “This man, Ait-Nouri. We talked about him before the game Jamie. He’s one of my favourite full-backs in the league.
“Going forward, he’s absolutely sensational.”
Wolves will do well to keep Ait-Nouri this summer
Ait-Nouri has stepped his game up in recent weeks.
Pundit Troy Deeney claimed that Ait-Nouri is playing for a move away from Wolves at the moment, and there may well be some truth in that.
Ultimately, it will be hard for Wolves to keep hold of him this summer.
Ait-Nouri has been brilliant for Wanderers. But he’ll have been at the club for five years this summer.
Fosun will surely see him as a selling opportunity, with his market value high and several clubs being interested. Liverpool are said to be one club keen on Ait-Nouri, and the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United have been linked in the past.
Wolves, of course, have to think about the 50% sell-on clause that Angers have on the player though.
It’s been suggested Wolves can buy that Ait-Nouri sell-on clause out for around £9.5 million, which is a huge amount of money. But Wolves surely don’t want to be missing out on half a transfer fee for him this summer.