Pep Guardiola bursts into laughter during question over Rayan Ait-Nouri’s game time | OneFootball

Rayan Ait-Nouri’s limited game time at Manchester City since arriving from Wolves in the summer sparked a burst of laughter from Pep Guardiola this week.

The City manager faced a wide-ranging set of questions ahead of his side’s meeting with Sunderland, including issues surrounding squad rotation, fitness concerns, and the balancing act required during the most intense period of the season.

Among those topics was the lack of minutes for Ait-Nouri, who arrived to much excitement in the summer but has yet to establish himself as a regular starter, largely due to circumstances out of his control.

Pep Guardiola’s reaction – a brief moment of laughter before answering – summed up the strange situation of a player highly-rated internally but blocked by exceptional form in his position.

The in-form Nico O’Reilly has shaped Guardiola’s selections in recent weeks, and City’s chaotic 4-5 win at Fulham highlighted the growing importance of freshness and energy, with several players visibly fatigued during the closing stages. With fixtures piling up and performances fluctuating, questions around rotation have become central talking points.

Despite the noise, Pep Guardiola made clear that Rayan Ait-Nouri remains trusted and valued, with his absence from the team driven by performance dynamics rather than any longer-term concerns.

“Rayan played at the [Club] World Cup and was really good, he played the first game against Wolves, played the second against Spurs, and after he was injured,” said Guardiola.

“And after came Nico [O’Reilly], and Nico O’Reilly has performed really well. It’s the only reason [for limited opportunities], no more than that. We’re really pleased with Rayan Ait-Nouri and I know he’s going to help us.”

Guardiola continued, “He came not just for a certain period, for a long time, he knows the Premier League, he’s ductile, 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’s difficult for the players, for you – with all respect – it doesn’t matter, could not care less. But for my players, of course, it’s difficult to understand it but it’s the only reason why.”

Discussing whether Nico O’Reilly may require some rest and rotation given the intense run of fixtures for himself, Guardiola explained, “Yeah, maybe. That’s why I rotated maybe too much, obviously too much against [Bayer] Leverkusen.

“But the only reason why was that, to freshen legs, and look what happened in the second-half against Fulham, our legs could not run more. So it’s a lot, a lot of games. We need energy, and that was the reason why against Leverkusen.

“And it happened that mainly because of the lack of energy and our intensity that we have in the first-half, retaining a lot of balls, creating a lot of chances, playing a really, really good game in a tough, tough place.”

Continuing on the subject of City’s breakthrough, versatile talent, Guardiola said, “And yeah, maybe it’s going to [happen], I don’t know when. But at the same time, he’s young, he’s not – I don’t know – Bernardo [Silva] maybe or another players like they are already grandfathers. He’s so young, he recovers well, and yeah, we’ll see, day by day.”

With City in a packed stretch of fixtures, opportunities for Rayan Ait-Nouri may not be far away. Pep Guardiola’s insistence that the Algerian has a role to play suggests that once the immediate need for continuity eases and O’Reilly’s workload requires management, rotation at left-back is likely.

Ait-Nouri’s versatility could also play an increasingly important role as City deal with injuries and tactical tweaks across the defensive line. Whether he forces his way back into the side against Sunderland or later in the month, Guardiola’s comments point firmly toward trust.