Manchester City agree £85.6m deal for Ayyoub Bouaddi
Manchester City have moved decisively to reshape their midfield, agreeing a deal worth up to £85.6m (€100m) with Lille for 18-year-old Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi.
City will pay a guaranteed £81m (€95m), with the remaining sum tied to performance-related add-ons. The teenager is expected to sign a long-term contract once the final paperwork and medical formalities are completed.
A new midfield after a summer of upheaval
Enzo Maresca walked into a club used to stability. This summer has been anything but.
Rodri and Tijjani Reijnders have both departed, ripping out the spine of City’s midfield. Bouaddi’s arrival is designed to plug that gap and give Maresca a fresh fulcrum in the centre of the pitch.
The changes have not stopped there. Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Nathan Ake have also left the Etihad Stadium, part of a sweeping overhaul that has followed the exit of Pep Guardiola. What was once the most settled dressing room in Europe suddenly looks very different.
Bouaddi, who caught the eye with a series of mature performances at the World Cup, now steps into that turbulence as one of the headline signings of the new era.
Big money, big expectations
City have already shown they are prepared to spend heavily to accelerate the rebuild. Bouaddi follows the £116m arrival of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest, another major investment in a revamped midfield unit.
The pressure will be immediate. An £81m guaranteed fee for a teenager brings scrutiny, especially at a club that has just lost some of its most reliable figures. Yet City believe Bouaddi’s blend of physicality, composure and range of passing can anchor Maresca’s system for years.
Transfer dominoes still to fall
The deal also lands in the middle of a wider reshuffle of City’s attacking options.
Savinho is poised to join Tottenham, while Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez – both named on the bench for Sunday’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth – could still be moved on before the window closes.
City are not done either. Alongside the Bouaddi move, the club have been linked with Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez and Palmeiras winger Allan, underlining the scale of the rebuild being contemplated.
For now, though, the spotlight falls on Bouaddi: an 18-year-old World Cup standout, a record-level fee, and a club in transition asking him to help define what the post-Guardiola Manchester City looks like.
