By OkayGoal
Everton have joined Manchester United in showing interest in Man City left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, with City ready to let him go in January and hoping to recoup around £30m.
The 25-year-old Algeria international is yet to play a Premier League minute under Enzo Maresca this season. According to TEAMtalk, intermediaries are already holding talks with a host of clubs, and Everton are the other domestic side to have shown interest alongside United.
🚨🆕 Manchester United have been offered the chance to sign Rayan Ait-Nouri in January!
Manchester City are ready to sanction his exit 👋 @GraemeBailey | #MUFC #MCFC https://t.co/4swTQnbFf4
– TEAMtalk (@TEAMtalk) October 29, 2026
City want his future sorted before the window opens. Maresca has delivered his verdict on the full-back to sporting director Hugo Viana, who is now working on an exit plan. There are also conversations going on with clubs in Italy, Spain and Germany.
Why Man City are ready to sell Rayan Ait-Nouri
The pecking order tells you everything. Maresca made it public earlier this month: “He’s a clear full-back. In that position, we have Josko [Gvardiol], who is doing fantastic, we have Nico [O’Reilly], who when he is fit is doing fantastic; and he’s the same position so it’s just competition between them.”
The City boss has also said, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, that he currently sees the former Wolves man as “more winger than full-back”. Figures from everton.news show just four appearances and 168 minutes for him this season, and his latest outing came off the bench at half-time in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Brighton on penalties.
Why a loan is off the table for Everton
City are open to a loan, as long as it includes a clause that makes the move permanent once he reaches an agreed number of appearances. That route is closed to Everton. Jack Grealish is already at the club on loan from City, and Premier League rules stop a club taking two players on loan from the same side.
TEAMtalk say Everton could only do it if Grealish’s deal became permanent. Otherwise David Moyes would need City’s £30m valuation met, although the structure of any agreement is still to be worked out.
The need is real. Everton have one of the smallest squads in the Premier League after a deadline day that saw Nathan Patterson, Tim Iroegbunam, Beto and Iliman Ndiaye leave, with only Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles coming in, as we covered in why Everton’s summer window ended in chaos. A striker is still top of the list, as their interest in a Dinamo Zagreb forward with 17 goals in 17 games shows, and The Friedkin Group have put the club up for sale.
How Rayan Ait-Nouri compares with Vitalii Mykolenko
Moyes trusts Vitalii Mykolenko for his defending, but the Ukrainian’s end product has long frustrated Evertonians: four goals and five assists in 167 Everton appearances. Ait-Nouri scored 12 and set up 19 in 157 games for Wolves, and has nine assists in 35 City games since his 2025 move, per everton.news.
| Premier League record | Vitalii Mykolenko (Everton) | Rayan Ait-Nouri (Man City, Wolves) |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 150 | 152 |
| Goals | 4 | 9 |
| Assists | 3 | 17 |
Gary O’Neil, who managed him at Molineux, once said “the sky is the limit” for the left-back.
Man United are still circling
Everton are not the only ones. United were offered Ait-Nouri on deadline day and were interested, but could not get a deal done before the window shut. Lines of communication have reopened since, and TEAMtalk say the player would be open to crossing Manchester. He would be the first to move directly from City to United since Owen Hargreaves in 2011.
Is Rayan Ait-Nouri worth £30m to Everton?
I think he is. £30m is a big outlay for a club that is up for sale and still needs a striker, but it buys a left-back with 150-plus Premier League games behind him and the kind of output Mykolenko has never offered. With Jarrad Branthwaite inside him, the defensive risk looks manageable.
The catch is United. City are happy to do a loan with a route to a permanent deal, and that suits United far more than it suits Everton, who have to pay up front. If Moyes wants him, Everton will need to move early and decide whether this is a priority or a luxury.