Bouaddi warmed up with Lille but did not play, and City are paying up to £86m for him
Lille turned down 60 million euros for Ayyoub Bouaddi in June. Two months and one World Cup later, Manchester City are paying 100 million.
Aug 24, 2026
Ayyoub Bouaddi joined in Lille’s warm-up at Angers on Sunday and then watched the game from outside the squad. Lille won 2-0 without him, and by the end of the evening Manchester City had a deal agreed for the 18-year-old worth up to £86m.
The structure is £81.3m guaranteed plus £4.3m in add-ons, which comes to about 100 million euros. Lille’s sports coordinator Sylvain Armand did not pretend otherwise when asked about the absence. “Things have progressed well concerning his departure,” he told Ligue1+. “We prepared this week without him.”
Lille have now sold the two most expensive teenagers in Premier League history
Bouaddi will become the most expensive teenage signing the Premier League has made. The record he takes belongs to Leny Yoro, who left Lille for Manchester United in 2024 in a deal worth up to £58.9m, with £52.2m of that guaranteed. Same selling club, same age bracket, and a jump of roughly £27m in two years.
Yoro’s move is also a reminder of what these fees buy. He broke a foot days into pre-season and did not make his United debut until December.
What the World Cup did to the price
In June, Lille were reported to have knocked back an opening Arsenal offer of around 60 million euros while holding out for something nearer 75 million, with Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and City all circling. The final number is 100 million. The difference between those two figures is one tournament.
Bouaddi made five appearances at the World Cup, starting with Morocco’s 1-1 draw against Brazil at MetLife Stadium on 13 June and finishing in the quarter-final against France on 10 July, where he played 62 minutes of a 2-0 defeat at Gillette Stadium. He was 18 years and 280 days old that day, which made him the youngest player at that stage of the tournament and, according to reports at the time, the second-youngest ever to appear in a World Cup quarter-final behind Pele in 1958.
He is a defensive midfielder, he has been in Lille’s first team since he was 16, and he had made a senior debut before he turned 17. None of that is in question. What is in question is whether a club should pay 100 million euros for a player whose price doubled off six weeks of football, and City are the ones answering it.
The hole Rodri left
City’s summer has been a midfield teardown. Rodri went to Barcelona in a deal worth up to 76.5 million euros, an initial 60 million with 16.5 million in add-ons tied to what he wins there, on a four-year contract at 30. Tijjani Reijnders was sold for around £52m, a season after City bought him for around 57 million euros. Elliot Anderson arrived from Nottingham Forest in July for £116m, which made him the most expensive British footballer there has been.
Add Bouaddi and City will have committed up to £202m to two central midfielders inside seven weeks, having banked most of a Rodri fee on the way. Enzo Maresca, in his first season after replacing Pep Guardiola, was asked about the signing after Sunday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth and gave the answer managers give when the paperwork is not signed. “I don’t know if there is any update at the moment,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Maresca has had a fortnight of extremes. Arsenal beat City 3-0 in the Community Shield in Cardiff on 16 August, scoring inside the first minute, and then his first league game turned on a Josko Gvardiol goal in stoppage time that needed a VAR check before it stood.
Eight days to sort the rest
The window shuts at 11pm UK time on 1 September, which is 3.30am IST on 2 September. City still have the Jack Grealish question open, and Maresca was blunt about how that works. “Until the day he isn’t here, it’s my duty to try and coach Jack and to try to get the best from him,” he said. “It’s one more week to go and we’ll see what happens, not only with Jack, but with more players.”
For an 18-year-old who has played 62 minutes of a World Cup quarter-final and cost 100 million euros, the pressure arrives with the shirt. City’s bet is that they have bought the next decade of their midfield rather than the last month of a transfer window.