Speaking on a recent episode of The Molineux View podcast, Tim Spiers heaped praised on Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Rayan Ait-Nouri’s debut performance against Crystal Palace.
Having only made 23 appearances, over which he provided four assists, for Ligue 1 side SCO Angers prior to his season-long loan move to Wolves back in October, it could be argued that the 19-year-old was somewhat of an unknown quantity at the time of his move to the Premier League.
However, following the £18 million-rated left-back’s debut performance for Wolves in their 2-0 win over Palace last Friday, in which he scored one goal, made one tackle, one interception and two clearances, the France U21 international ensured that he is an unknown quantity no longer.
The 19-year-old’s performance was one subject of conversation on a recent episode of The Molineux View podcast, in which Spiers raved about the defender’s impact on the game.
He said: “Ait-Nouri was phenomenal. I know it’s only one game and he’s a kid, and he got a lot of space at times, but he played with such enthusiasm and really helped stretch that game out on the left.
“A lot of the time they ignored him, actually, I was keeping a very close eye on him for a piece for The Athletic, you know what it’s like with a young teenage debutant – often they weren’t passing to him.
“But the fact that he was stretching the play out made such a difference and Palace were quite narrow, and it played into Wolves’ hands, really. So, he was the standout for me.”
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TIF Thoughts on Tim Spiers’ comments regarding Rayan Ait-Nouri…
From Spiers’ comments, it is clear that the journalist was highly impressed with the performance of the youngster, and despite the fact that, according to Spiers, Wolves did not often look to give him the ball, the way the defender stretched the game for his side massively helped them in securing the three points.
And, considering that Ait-Nouri earned a WhoScored match rating of 8.04 for his performance against Palace, ranking him as the third-best player on the pitch against Palace, it would seem that Spiers’ praise for the left-back is not misplaced.