Rayan Aït-Nouri (born 6 June 2001) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or a wing-back for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Algerian national team.

Club career

Angers

Aït-Nouri is a graduate of the

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

youth academy, which he joined from Paris FC in July 2016 in return for covering Aït-Nouri's tuition fees of €5,000. He signed his professional contract aged 16 in February 2018 and made his first team debut as a substitute in a 1–3 loss to

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

on 25 August 2018. After making three appearances in the 2018–19 season, he became the team's first choice left-back in the following season until breaking his jaw in a game against

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

in January 2020. At the conclusion of the French league season, which was ended early due to the coronavirus pandemic, he signed a new contract that was due to keep him at Angers until 2023.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 4 October 2020, Aït-Nouri moved on a season-long loan deal to

club

, with the club having an option of a permanent purchase. Twenty-six days later, he scored his first goal in professional football, on his league debut in a 2–0 home win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. On 9 July 2021, Aït-Nouri had made a permanent move to Wolves for £9.8 million, on a five-year deal with an option for a further year. He scored his second goal for Wolves in his 50th appearance for the club, on 15 May 2022, in a 1–1 home Premier League draw with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. On 26 December 2022, Aït-Nouri scored the winning Wolves goal in

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Agote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing Real Madrid ...

's first Premier League game as Wolves' new head coach away at Everton; this was Aït-Nouri's first league goal of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, Aït-Nouri is of Algerian descent. He was a youth international for France, having represented the French under-18 and under-21 teams. In January 2023, he switched to represent

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

internationally. He made his debut with the Algerian national team in the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches will be organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the 34th edition of the international men's football champi ...

match against

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesNelson Mandela Stadium Nelson Mandela Stadium () is a 40,784 capacity stadium in Baraki, Algeria, a suburb of Algiers. The value of construction work for the stadium cost around 300 million euros. It will be used as an athletics track and be the first stadium in Algeri ...

, the 23rd of March 2023.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ait-Nouri, Rayan 2001 births Living people Sportspeople from Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis Algerian footballers French footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent Association football midfielders Angers SCO players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Footballers from Seine-Saint-Denis