Manchester City Sign Ayyoub Bouaddi for €100m Amid Midfield Overhaul

Manchester City have struck a deal with Lille to sign Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi in a move that underlines the scale of their midfield rebuild.

City will pay an initial €95million (£81.4m; $110m) with a further €5m (£4.3m; $5.8m) in potential add-ons, taking the total package to €100m. The 18-year-old will sign a contract at the Etihad Stadium running until 2031, with an option for an extra year.

It is an eye-catching fee for a teenager, but City have been circling for some time. In July, The Athletic reported that the Premier League champions were pushing hard to convince Bouaddi to leave France, with the player weighing up his next step after his breakthrough at Lille.

This is not just another luxury signing. It comes on the back of major departures.

• Rodri has been sold to Barcelona for an initial €60m (£51.2m; $68.8m), ripping out the heartbeat of City’s midfield.
• Bernardo Silva has left at the end of his contract.
• Tijjani Reijnders has moved to Al Qadsiah, while The Athletic has reported that Newcastle United are in talks to sign Nico Gonzalez.

City have already spent big to reshape the core. Elliot Anderson arrived earlier in the summer from Nottingham Forest in a £116m ($153m) deal. Now Bouaddi joins that new wave, asked to grow quickly in a team that expects to win everything.

He does not arrive as a project in the dark. Bouaddi lit up Morocco’s run to the quarterfinals at this summer’s World Cup, starting five of their six matches. In the group-stage draw with Brazil, he recorded more touches than any of his teammates in a 1-1 stalemate, showing the composure and responsibility that have made elite clubs take notice.

His rise at club level has been just as rapid. In September 2023, he became Lille’s youngest-ever player when he made his debut in a Conference League tie at 16 years and three days, a landmark moment for an academy he had joined only two years earlier.

By the 2025-26 campaign, his third full senior season, Bouaddi was a fixture. He made 42 appearances in all competitions, registering one assist as Lille finished third in Ligue 1 and booked a return to the Champions League. The foundations of that ascent were laid by Luis Carlos — now Paris Saint-Germain’s football advisor — who brought him to Lille in 2021.

On the international stage, Bouaddi’s story has taken another sharp turn. Having represented France from under-16 to under-21 level, he switched allegiance to Morocco and made his senior debut in May. Within weeks, he was starting at a World Cup and dictating games against some of the world’s best.

Now comes the hardest step: translating that promise to the intensity of Manchester City, in a midfield stripped of its old certainties and built around a new generation.