We assess the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) appeal of Rayan Aït Nouri (£4.5m) in our second pre-season instalment of Great Expectations, a series of articles on players who have shown glimpses of promise and who are potentially on the cusp of a breakout FPL campaign.
All stats and heatmaps used in this piece are taken from our Premium Members Area.
THE TRANSFER
Aït Nouri became a permanent Wolverhampton Wanderers player earlier this month after a promising campaign on loan at Molineux last season.
The Frenchman, who arrived on a five-year deal with the option of a sixth, is Bruno Lage’s fourth signing as Wolves new head coach.
On the deal, technical director Scott Sellars said:
“We think Rayan is a great signing for the football club. He proved last season that he’s a very talented player, with lots of potential – I thought he did well and kicked on towards the end of the season. He’s a player who is only going to get better, he’s a good boy, who works hard, and settled in well here.
We’ve used the loan before buying approach well in the past, with people like Jonny and Raul [Jimenez]. I think it’s a great way for both parties to get to know each other, to see if they can adapt and enjoy English football, and we get a chance to have a look first, and see if a deal can be done.
In Rayan’s case, he got a lot of minutes because both Jonny and Marcal suffered injury problems last season, so he had lots of games in the Premier League to show his quality.
At his age, he’s got a lot to learn still, a lot to work on, and I’m sure with us he’ll develop. He has great quality going forward, we all remember his goal on his debut, so he’s got a lot going for him, as well as areas to develop, like all players.”
The question is: can Aït Nouri now kick on and become one of the best budget defenders FPL?
2020/21 REVIEW
It didn’t take long for Aït Nouri to make his mark at Wolves, as he opened the scoring after just 18 minutes of his debut in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace back in October.
In his 23 appearances that followed, the youngster showed plenty of intent to get forward and provide an attacking threat, both as a left-back and left wing-back.
Above: Rayan Aït Nouri’s touch heatmap 2020/21
However, it was in the final nine games of the season that he truly established himself.
With Jonny (£4.5m) needing surgery on another ACL problem and Fernando Marçal (£4.5m) on the sidelines too, Aït Nouri produced solid performances as Wolves secured back-to-back 1-0 wins over Fulham, when he started taking set-pieces, and Sheffield United.
He then impressed against Brighton and Hove Albion and West Bromwich Albion, as his confidence and stature in the team grew.
Statistically, amongst all defenders (with a 1,000-minute threshold), he ranked 11th for crosses and second for take-ons per 90 minutes:
