Manchester United have reportedly made a surprise late enquiry over signing Manchester City left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.

That’s according to Ben Jacobs and others at talkSPORT, though he has also stressed that Man City sources currently see this deal as unlikely to go through.

Man Utd have needed a left-back, with Alejandro Balde reported here by Fabrizio Romano as one of the names they’ve explored.

Ait-Nouri is seemingly someone else the Red Devils were keen on, though it’s unclear at this moment in time if this interest is likely to go anywhere…

? BREAKING: Manchester United have made a deadline day enquiry for Manchester City left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri.

Unclear if talks are going to progress this evening following an initial approach. #MCFC believe a deal is unlikely.??

With @SamC_reports and @alex_crook for… pic.twitter.com/nDzFkPtdD5

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) September 1, 2026

“BREAKING: Manchester United have made a deadline day enquiry for Manchester City left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri,” Jacobs posted on X.

“Unclear if talks are going to progress this evening following an initial approach. #MCFC believe a deal is unlikely.”

Want more CaughtOffside coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Man United and Man City don’t tend to do business with each other

Ait-Nouri is undoubtedly a fine player who could strengthen a problem position for United, but this was surely never likely to develop into something concrete.

Rayan Ait-Nouri in action for Manchester City (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

It’s very rare for the two Manchester clubs to do business together, even if there have been a few players who’ve represented both teams.

In recent history Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves left United for City, while others like Andrew Cole and Peter Schmeichel also played for both clubs, albeit with spells at other teams in-between.

It will be interesting to see if more develops on this story in the final hours of the transfer window, but it would be one of the biggest surprises of the summer in many ways.

Ait-Nouri previously shone at Wolves but hasn’t been at his best for City, so one imagines he might be someone who ends up leaving the Etihad Stadium in the near future, though surely not for United.