Wolves youngster Rayan Ait-Nouri has reportedly now emerged as a potential transfer target for Chelsea, following his return to top form at Molineux.
That is the claim from 90min, who believe the Blues are taking an interest in the Algeria international ahead of 2024.
Ait-Nouri has featured heavily so far for Wanderers this season, having seen very little game time under Julen Lopetegui last term. He’s played in every game so far under Gary O’Neil and Ait-Nouri has been one of Wolves’ best players.
As a result of his great form of late, it looks as though Wolves may now have to prepare themselves for an approach by Chelsea…
Chelsea interested in Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri
90min are reporting today that Chelsea are keen on Ait-Nouri and have added him to their list of targets for 2024.
The Blues are said to have been tracking Ait-Nouri, because there could soon be a shake-up at left-back at Stamford Bridge.
Ian Maatsen could be sold as he approaches the final 18 months of his contract, while Marc Cucurella has already been linked with a move away from the club since joining from Brighton having not totally convinced.
Ait-Nouri has been with Wolves since the summer of 2020 when he joined the club on an initial loan deal from Angers.
Wolves had an option to buy the player for £10 million which they triggered in the summer of 2021.
It was reported recently that Wolves are adamant about keeping Ait-Nouri at least beyond January, with the likes of Liverpool, Nice and Marseille all said to be interested.
Ait-Nouri will attract a lot of interest if he carries on as he is
So Chelsea are said to be keen on Ait-Nouri and it’s not a huge surprise there could be interest from the Blues.
At Wolves this season most of the talk has been about Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan, but Ait-Nouri has undoubtedly been one of the best performers under O’Neil so far.
He is still very raw, but his potential is extremely high.
Ait-Nouri has dazzling footwork and is a great outlet. He’s very well suited to playing as a wing-back, a position he recently admitted he much prefers.
For a lot of his time at Wolves, people have questioned his defensive capabilities but recently some data showed that Ait-Nouri has actually been very strong in terms of his tackling this season.
He is still only 22 and has a lot of developing still to do, but he can definitely become one of the very best in his position in the game if he works hard, with O’Neil saying recently that, while Ait-Nouri is ‘mad’ in the way he plays sometimes, the sky is the limit for him. It’s little wonder Chelsea could come calling.