Football Coach Tips Former Star to Make Liverpool Switch

Reda Bekhti didn’t take too long to make up his mind. As soon as he first caught a sight Rayan Aït-Nouri skipping past his peers with ease, he knew Paris FC is where he belonged.

Only 12 years old at the time, Aït-Nouri was playing in a trial game hoping to impress the Paris FC scouts and get himself a place in one of France’s most esteemed academies.

“Rayan first came to us from Club de Fontenay,” Bekhti recalls to Anfield Index.

“We were immediately impressed by his comfort and technical ease on the ball. He was ahead of his peers and that is why we decided to integrate him to the club.”

At Paris FC, Aït-Nouri joined a strong age group that also included Manu Koné, who was targeted by Liverpool last year. Above them, the likes of Loïc Badé, Axel Disasi, Nordi Mukiele, Ibrahima Konaté and Boubakary Soumaré were also contracted to Paris FC at the time.

Aït-Nouri spent just a little over two years at Paris FC, learning his trade and honing the technical skills that were a key component of the club.

Under Bekhti he would be trialled in several different roles at Paris FC. While primarily being used as a left-back he would also play as a left-winger and Bekhti would even play him in the midfield alongside now Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder, Koné.

“We ​​played him in different roles mainly on the left side but also in the centre as a holding midfielder.”

The reason why Aït-Nouri was used in so many different roles is because of his tactical versatility. He is a player who even now and back then could also read the game very well, and had the ability to not only hog the lines but cut in and play in central areas while causing problems to opposition defences.

Much of that flexibility comes from his attitude to training and the way he has approached his craft with professionalism from a young age.

“He was a very polite, humble boy, always smiling and hardworking,” Bekhti recalls.

“In session he was a guy who was very studious, a perfectionist, who liked to do well while maintaining this carefreeness and technical mastery that characterised him.”

He also possessed a positive attitude off the field and was able to get on really well with his teammates.

“Away from the pitch he was an entertainer and always wanted to encourage others. His best quality was his humility and kindness.”

Given the amount of talent Paris FC wielded it did not take long for Aït-Nouri to attract the attention of other scouts in the region.

He was ultimately snapped up by Angers SCO, who went against the club’s policy of signing youth players for transfer fees and forked out the measly sum of €5k to sign the then 16 year old.

It was a decision that paid huge dividends, within a year and a half, Aït-Nouri made his senior debut for the club at just 17 years, two months and 19 days – becoming the youngest player to appear for the club since the 1980s at the time.

In time he worked his way into the starting XI, caught the eye in Ligue 1 and even played regularly for the French youth national team set-up before opting to represent Algeria at senior level and signing for Wolverhampton in the Premier League.

For Bekhti Aït-Nouri’s rise has not been a surprise. He saw the potential he had all those years ago as a 12 year old, and knew with the right environment the young man would thrive.

“From the beginning, he was a boy who had talent and a lot of room for improvement. He needed to be trusted and allowed to express his qualities on the pitch, which is what the Angers did well.”

Now at Wolverhampton, at Aït-Nouri has established himself as one of the best young full-backs in the Premier League at 23 years old.

The likes of Liverpool and Manchester City have both followed him from a young age. Liverpool’s scouts had been aware of him since his Paris FC days and watched him in action even back then.

Since then the club’s scouts have continued to monitor him, and have a good working relationship with his agent, Jorge Mendes.

Bekhti believes his former protege is ready for the next step in his career.

“I think he needs to take a step forward and confront himself in a better environment. The fact that he is associated with these two big clubs [Liverpool and Manchester City] shows you how he is already among the best.”

A move to Anfield would also mean a reunion with another former Paris FC academy graduate who Bekhti had worked with at a young age in Ibrahima Konaté.

“To move to Liverpool who has Ibrahima, who I also had at Paris FC, it would be a great sign of destiny.”

Why are Liverpool interested in Rayan Aït-Nouri?

If Arne Slot is to use his Feyenoord system at Liverpool it’s going be very interesting to see how the two full-backs’ role will evolve.

In the right-back role, Slot predominantly used Lutsharel Geertruida last season, who wasn’t a ‘traditional’ full-back. Instead, Geetruida would invert and often drop into central areas to progress the ball through his distribution.

Geetruida led Feyenoord last season for progressive passes and he was very much an anchor in building out from the back. His heatmap illustrates as such.

Meanwhile, on the left-flank Slot used Quilindschy Hartman, who was more of a traditional left-back, who would sometimes overlap and stay on the touchline.

However, he too had the tendency to cut into the middle and make progressive runs through central channels to open up space for his teammates. As you can see from his heatmap below Hartman would often drop into more central positions as opposed to Andy Robertson for Liverpool who tends to stay on the touchline and will look to overlap.

Now Aït-Nouri is definitely capable of making overlapping runs, but he is also a very capable player when it comes to dropping into central areas and progressing the ball in those territories – a bit like Hartman.

Last season, Aït-Nouri actually played a couple of games for Wolverhampton in a central midfield role and as a left-sided centre-back as well.

He’s definitely, someone who you could envision playing a similar role to Hartman in Slot’s system at Liverpool. Reda Bekhti’s words above that Aït-Nouri was used as a holding midfielder at times at Paris FC during his development is further affirmation of that.

Bekhti has described Aït-Nouri’s technical qualities as one of his best assets and that is definitely reflective in the numbers as well. He’s a player who is very capable of making forward runs with the ball and beating opponents with ease.

Last season, he attempted the most dribbles out of left-backs in the Premier League (4.44 per 90).

Meanwhile, out of players who attempted at least four dribbles per 90 minutes on average, Aït-Nouri’s 57.14% success rate ranked him as the 15th most effective dribbler in the Premier League.

His passing and distribution numbers are average but they must be weighted against Wolves’ average possession and passing attempts – which ranks them 10th in the Premier League overall. That means he wasn’t playing in a super dominant possession based side and if we scale his numbers in relation to Wolves’ average possession, we still get a very decent ball playing full-back with the potential for his passing numbers to skyrocket in a more possession orientated side like Arne Slot’s.

As mentioned, Liverpool’s scouts have kept an eye on him for a long time now. The club are big admirers of the player and Aït-Nouri is definitely ready for the next step in his career with Wolves valuing him at around £35m-£40m.

At 23 years old, this would be a smart move for all parties involved and it would not be a surprise for Liverpool to make him the club’s first summer signing.