Pep Guardiola makes feelings clear on Rayan Ait-Nouri, Nico O’Reilly situation at Man City

Pep Guardiola has insisted that he is “pleased” with Rayan Ait-Nouri and his lack of game time at Manchester City is solely down to the impressive form of Nico O’Reilly.

Ait-Nouri joined Man City from Wolves for a reported £31m in June, signing a five-year deal and becoming Guardiola’s first specialist left-back signing at the club since 2019.

The 24-year-old represented the Citizens at the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer before making his Premier League debut against his former side Wolves on the opening weekend of the season.

Ait-Nouri was then handed his first start at the Etihad Stadium in a 2-0 loss to Tottenham at the end of August, but he was withdrawn early in the first half after sustaining an ankle injury.

Man City’s No.21 aggravated his injury during his 90-minute outing at Brighton before September’s international break and has since been limited to only four first-team appearances across all competitions.

Ait-Nouri most recently played the first 45 minutes in City’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen just over a week ago when Guardiola regrettably made 10 changes to his starting lineup.

O’Reilly’s form the “only reason” behind Ait-Nouri’s lack of game time

In the absence of Ait-Nouri, academy starlet Nico O’Reilly has performed consistently well and has made the left-back role his own, starting 13 matches across the Premier League and Champions League this term.

Although Ait-Nouri is now fit and available for selection, Guardiola has made it clear that his lack of game time since recovering is due to the performances of O’Reilly at left-back an “no more”.

Asked if Ait-Nouri is taking a bit longer to settle than he would have hoped, Guardiola said: “Rayan played at the Club World Cup, he was really good. Played the first game of this season against Wolves, played the second against Spurs and after he was injured.

“[Then] came Nico O’Reilly who has performed really well. That is the only reason. No more than that.

“We are pleased with Rayan Ait-Nouri. I know he is going to help us, not just for a certain period but for a long time. He knows the Premier League, he can play outside and inside, can play in different positions.

“But now, Nico is playing really good and that is the only reason why. It is difficult for the players. For you (journalists) in all respect, it doesn’t matter, I could not care less (what they think). But for my players, of course, it is difficult to understand, but that is the only reason why.”

Guardiola to consider resting O’Reilly ahead of busy fixture schedule

It remains to be seen how much game time Ait-Nouri will get at Man City in upcoming matches against Sunderland, Real Madrid and Crystal Palace, before he leaves to represent Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations later this month.

As for O’Reilly, Guardiola will soon make a decision over whether to rest the youngster during a busy fixture period having started in six of Man City’s last seven games in all competitions.

Asked if he is getting the sense that O’Reilly will need a rest at some point soon, Guardiola added: “Yeah maybe. That is why I rotated too much against Leverkusen, but one of the reasons why was for fresh legs. We all saw what happened in second half against Fulham, our legs could not run more.

“It is a lot of games (coming up). We need to maintain energy. That was why I made the decision against Leverkusen. [Our performance] dropped mainly because of a lack of energy, our intensity that we had in the first half, regained a lot of balls, created a lot of chances, we were playing a really, really good game in a tough, tough place.

“So maybe (a rest for O’Reilly) is coming, but I don't know when. He is young, he’s not Bernardo [Silva] or other players who are already grandfathers! He’s so young, he is a teenager. If he recovers well, we will see, day by day.”

O’Reilly is expected to retain his starting spot at left-back when Man City play host to Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday, but Ait-Nouri is also in contention to feature in some capacity.