Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri discusses being exiled by Julen Lopetegui last season to striving under Gary O'Neil; follow Luton vs Wolves on the Sky Sports live blog this Saturday from 1.30pm; kick-off 3pm; watch free match highlights from 5.15pm
Saturday 23 September 2023 09:09, UK
He walks into a room in Wolves' training ground with a fresh look - a shaved head. A clean head of hair to perhaps represent a clean start at the club for Rayan Ait-Nouri.
The left-back went from a player linked to 'Big Six' clubs to being completely unwanted by Julen Lopetegui last season. Between March and May he was left out of nine out of 10 matchday squads and didn't play a single minute of action across all competitions. A promising career was stalling.
"Yeah, it was tough at first," he tells Sky Sports about this period away from the pitch. "It was complicated.
"I said the same to those close to me, it was the manager's choice, and this was only something I could control up to a point.
"He made the picks and I had to accept it. I gave the best of myself in training to give myself the best chance of playing."
Ait-Nouri reveals Lopetegui never explained why he was dropped. But at the time, there was a hint as to why.
The match before his mini-exile, Wolves were hanging onto a 1-1 draw at Newcastle when the left-back, perhaps needlessly, broke away from the deep shape to press the Magpies centre-backs.
Seconds later, Miguel Almiron benefited from the vacated space to give the hosts a 2-1 win. "What is Ait-Nouri doing?" questioned Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher on co-commentary duty as it happened.
Explaining Ait-Nouri's subsequent long-term absence, Lopetegui said the left-back needed to know "more about the defensive plays." He also referred to "trigger moments" and "making good decisions". It's not confirmed, but the reasoning seemed clear.
That Newcastle moment looked to have cost Ait-Nouri. But ultimately it did not cost him a future at the club.
Asked if he contemplated leaving Molineux this summer, with Lopetegui still in charge until six weeks ago, the defender replied: "No, honestly.
"Yeah, for every player the joy is playing with team-mates on the pitch and helping them as part of a group and doing my bit. Yeah, I wasn't in the coach's plans, my goal is to play and express myself.
"But in football, things can happen like a coach leaves and a new one comes in. I'm happy with the new one."
That he is. Ait-Nouri has started all but one of Wolves' Premier League games under new coach Gary O'Neil. The defender's confidence appears to be back. "Yeah, as you can see!" he remarks.
The Algeria international is now part of a Wolves side who take the ball and run with it. They have made more dribbles than any other Premier League side this season.
Ait-Nouri himself has made the second-most dribbles out of all the top-flight defenders. The only player ahead of him? Team-mate Nelson Semedo on the opposite flank.
"We have got that freedom to go forward," the left-back says. "When Nelson goes, I know to stay with the centre-halves.
"It's ideal for him, for the way he wants to attack when he wants to. We've done a lot of work on it and it works.
"[O'Neil] is a coach who enjoys it when we have the ball. He has some really good ideas. You can see that on the pitch, it's nice to play in."
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Luton, there are some frustrations in O'Neil's side, however. For all their attractive attacking play, end product has proved to be an issue - and not for the first time in recent seasons.
The number of shots Wolves have on goal is in the top half of the league. They had 23 shots in their league opener at Manchester United - the highest number from an opposition team at Old Trafford since 2005 - and should have put Liverpool to bed with their 11 chances last week.
But Wolves lost both games due to a lack of cutting-edge. Their overall goal tally after five games mirrors their league position: fifth-worst in the division.
"It's frustrating because if you look at the matches, we dominated the [Liverpool and United] games," Ait-Nouri says.
"We played so well, individually the players were so concentrated. But it's frustrating because from those two games we deserved at least a point.
"We just need these small margins to go our way - you've seen we massively deserve them from the opening games of the season.
"The majority of matches we have dominated but we lack the final ball. It's just to improve our efficiency in the final pass, to get that clinching goal. I think it will happen, then the confidence will flow.
"So I'm sure we're going to start picking up those wins up, starting this weekend."
Follow Luton vs Wolves on the Sky Sports live blog on the website app this Saturday from 1.30pm; kick-off 3pm. Watch free match highlights from 5.15pm
