SportsCatch
EN

Manchester United pursued City's Ait-Nouri before deadline but balked at obligation to buy

Manchester United made a late approach to sign Rayan Ait-Nouri on loan from Manchester City, but walked away after City insisted any deal include an obligation to buy the Algeria international.

1 min read
Manchester United pursued City's Ait-Nouri before deadline but balked at obligation to buy
Share

Manchester United approached Manchester City about signing left back Rayan Ait-Nouri on loan before the summer transfer deadline, only to pull out when City made a permanent commitment a condition of the deal.

United’s interest was triggered by an approach from Ait-Nouri’s representatives last week. City were willing to let the Algeria international leave, but only on a loan with an obligation to buy — terms United were not prepared to accept.

Left back had emerged as a concern for United heading into deadline day, with Luke Shaw the only established option in that position. The club’s summer business had otherwise centred on bolstering Michael Carrick’s midfield, with Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos all arriving.

United also turned down a late approach from Everton, who sought to take forward Joshua Zirkzee on loan. A separate deadline-day pursuit of 18-year-old Louis Page from Leicester City was halted after the two clubs failed to agree terms.

Share
{# Sitewide native fullscreen interstitial — our own bet-CTA card blown up to a takeover (replaces the SDK overlay). The shared card animations + countdown load once, AFTER the interstitial markup, so the countdown script's first tick sees this card's node too (the in-read card, in
above, already exists). One include covers both surfaces. #}