Wolves star Ruben Neves and manager Bruno Lage have both labelled Rayan Ait-Nouri 'fantastic' as rumours grow that Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel now has his eyes set on the defender as Marcos Alonso's permanent replacement ahead of 2022/23.
With the transfer window now open, the Blues' rivals Liverpool and Man City have both made their first moves with deals for Benfica's Darwin Nunez and Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland respectively. Even fourth and fifth-placed Arsenal and Spurs have already shown their teeth with the Marquinhos and Ivan Perisic deals announced.
For Chelsea, whilst Billy Gilmour's contract was extended at the start of this week, all incoming activity has not yet set alight despite the clear and strong links to the likes of Jules Kounde and Ousmane Dembele. In fact, the outgoings have made up the agenda at the moment for the current World champions.
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A host of players like Andreas Christensen were let go at the end of his contract whilst Antonio Rudiger decided to reject a new deal to test himself in Spain with Real Madrid. The likes of Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta could follow suit very soon with the former of the pair seemingly closer to the exit doors.
Barcelona are hoping to snap up the signings of both Spaniards alongside Christensen. While the Spanish club are set to balance the books with the sales of Frenkie De Jong to Manchester United, they are in need of Todd Boehly's Chelsea to get going in the transfer market as it is understood that the Blues hierarchy will not let any full-backs go until a replacement is in place.
Centre-half defensive targets seem to be of plenty but the full-back position is more open for debate in the early parts of this summer transfer window. Amid all the external transfer talk of Marc Cucurella, Borna Sosa, Achraf Hakimi and even internal names like Dujon Sterling, there had seemed to be no real concrete links as of yet to players being actively pursued to date.
However, that may be just about to change. Journalist Alan Nixon has reported that Tuchel has turned his efforts to Ait-Nouri as the west Londoners look to secure a reasonably priced replacement before they give the green light to Alonso's Camp Nou dream.
Birmingham Live have added that the player who racked up a total of 1,838 Premier League minutes last term, could only setback Boehly's new consortium a £25million transfer fee, which is seen as reasonable for a player who came with such a high billing when Jorge Mendes' client moved permanently to England last summer from Angers for £10million after impressing on his first loan move back in 2020/21.
One season later and the Molineux club could make a quick £15million profit for their versatile wing-back who scored the equaliser in Wolves' late-season clash vs Norwich City. A performance that was labelled as 'fantastic' by Nuno Espirito Santo's successor.
"What Rayan’s doing is a fantastic season and he deserves this moment. We tried to do our best and we changed a little bit. We came out with a different idea and a different dynamic," the Portuguese told Wolves' official website.
Star midfielder Neves, who could still move within the Premier League this summer if his dream Barcelona move cannot be financed, has also said similar on a player who made his debut vs Crystal Palace during an initial loan spell back in 2020 in a 2-0 home victory in October 2020.
Neves stated: "Rayan is a fantastic player as well with a lot of talent. We try to help him a lot because it was his debut, but we are really proud of him because he had a great game, with a goal as well which will help us a lot, so we’re really happy for him, and hope he keeps working like this because he’s a great player."
Chelsea fans- Would Rayan Ait-Nouri be a suitable and good replacement for the outgoing Marcos Alonso? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
