Julen Lopetegui’s management of Rayan Ait-Nouri looks increasingly baffling as the games go by for Wolves this season, as the youngster continues to thrive under Gary O’Neil.
Wanderers recorded a third straight win yesterday, beating Everton in their final game of 2023.
It was a comprehensive 3-0 victory, and arguably the performance of the season so far. O’Neil admitted after the game that it was his favourite performance from the team to date.
It is extremely refreshing to watch this team at the moment; so many players have stepped up this term and O’Neil deserves a huge amount of credit for what he has done so far.
One of his biggest feats simply has to be the impact he’s had on Rayan Ait-Nouri, who looked like his Wolves future was in doubt six months ago…
Julen Lopetegui freezing Rayan Ait-Nouri out at Wolves just looks baffling now
Last term, Ait-Nouri started off in favour under Bruno Lage, but he eventually lost his place in the starting lineup to an emerging Hugo Bueno.
Granted, Bueno enjoyed a really good debut season at Molineux. But Ait-Nouri’s lack of involvement for Wolves in the second half of the season felt very odd.
This was a player who had previously been linked with the likes of Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, and all of a sudden, he was no longer making matchday squads.
After putting in an admittedly poor cameo display against Newcastle United in February, Lopetegui then left him out of his next seven Premier League squads, bringing him back for Aston Villa but leaving him on the bench.
He then missed the next two squads against Manchester United and Everton, before playing for about 20 minutes in the final game against Arsenal.
It was reported by Johnny Phillips that Ait-Nouri had not been making squads simply because he was laid-back in training, and it was the same with Raul Jimenez. Seemingly, Lopetegui felt it was easier to leave those two out than others in the squad.
Gary O’Neil has a gem on his hands
Right from the off this season, O’Neil has put his faith in Ait-Nouri and the £10 million signing has not let his manager down. Against Everton he was superb once again, with the Express & Star giving him an 8/10 rating.
He has responded amazingly to the new manager coming in and right now, he’s probably playing the best football of his Wolves career.
Without doubt, he’s been one of Wolves’ very best performers this season – indeed, WhoScored have him ranked as number eight in the squad (removing Matheus Nunes). It just makes it all the more strange that a player with such quality and potential was regularly being left out by Lopetegui.
Who knows if there was anything more to the situation than just his laid-back style. But Wolves fans won’t care one jot now, because a serious talent is emerging at Molineux who has the full backing of his new manager.
O’Neil is in possession of a gem, and he could genuinely become one of the top left-backs or left wing-backs in the world.