Should you buy Man City’s Rayan Ait Nouri or Josko Gvardiol in your FPL team?

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Will the addition of Rayan Ait-Nouri (£6.0m) to the Man City backline have a negative impact on the FPL production of Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) and which defender should you buy for your FPL team this season?

The signing of left-back Rayan Ait Nouri from Wolves should push Josko Gvardiol into a centre-back position for the vast majority of Man City’s season. This may have an adverse effect on the Croatian’s attacking production, which saw him accrue five goals last season in the Premier League. Ait Nouri meanwhile, racked up four goals and seven assists for Wolves, which bodes well for his prospects at Man City.

What should work in Gvardiol’s favour though, is the new defensive contribution points system which awards two points per match for ten combined clearances, blocks, interceptions or tackles. With Gvardiol at centre-back, he should stand a good chance of gaining two points on any given gameweek.

Gvardiol was the highest scoring FPL defender last season, but his role will be different in 2025-26 and it would be no surprise if his numbers dropped. However, he is nailed in the Man City line-up and should still be favoured over Ait Nouri, at least initially.

Verdict: Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m)