Rayan Ait Nouri is a player worthy of you tuning in, even if you are not a fan of the team he is playing for. He plays for Wolves. But if you tune in now, you won’t see him at his height, his full potential, because they are not using him in the way they did last season. Would you do the same?

Ait-Nouri is a 23-year-old Algerian fullback with a heavy French accent, born in Montreuil, France, who can operate both on the left and right sides of defense, but predominantly on the left-hand side. He is not a traditional fullback; he is mobile and could function as a midfielder.

He is at his best when he is allowed to roam, especially when he is allowed to roam in the midfield from left to right. Notice how I said “in the midfield.” I wouldn’t say he is at his best when he starts in as a fullback and rotates into the midfield, from left to right. He is at his best when he starts in the midfield and then attacks space, wherever that may be, because he is very good at finding the correct angles. He can pop up anywhere and dribble past anyone, but he doesn’t have a lot of speed in a straight line.

By finding the correct angles, I mean that he can find the correct tight spaces to create space for others because he is better at dribbling in and through those tight spaces than most of his teammates. He knows how to attract defenders towards him and distribute, or lurk inside the box for a goal.

Just off the halfway line drifting into the left half-space, in the opponent’s half, he collects, dribbles past a player, plays it wide, and continues his run. Then he gets played into the box from the winger, cuts it across goal for the tap-in assist or he drifts off his marker on the far post, cross gets put in and he heads in a goal. That is where he is best used. With the freedom to drift to the right hand side of attack ahead of the holding midfielders.

He is like Rico Lewis for Manchester City, but three years older, faster, quicker, a better finisher, a better creator, and has a more well-rounded dribbling skillset in open space. Rico is a better defender, better on the turn, and better off the right. Rayan is better off the left. Sounds like an opportunity for Manchester City to pair them together.

So I tuned into the Wolves’ match three weeks ago, and then two weeks ago, and this week. I choose to watch Wolves’ matches over the many others that are on because, as a group, as a team, each of their players is supremely talented and entertaining dribblers. Unfortunately for me and for Wolves fans, they are compensating because their defense is not that strong. I don’t feel it is for tactical reasons; I think it is their personnel at center-back. But because they are compensating, Ait Nouri is having to stay back in a more passive, traditional, defensive left-back role, not venturing forward or inverting into the midfield as often as he would last season.

If you had a player like Ait Nouri on your team. A player that is a game changer when he is allowed to roam, would you sacrifice there forcing him to stay back or sacrifice someplace else to allow him to roam? I would try to find a way to maximize Ait Nouri’s impact, like Wolves did in the second half against Bournemouth, and allow him to roam from left to right.