{"id":653254,"date":"2026-08-24T04:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653254\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T04:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:18:19","slug":"man-city-record-breaking-86m-deal-agreed-for-sublime-ligue-1-midfielder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653254\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City: Record-breaking \u00a386m deal agreed for sublime Ligue 1 midfielder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester City<\/a> have agreed a deal in principle worth \u20ac100m (\u00a386m) to sign 18-year-old Lille midfield sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi, as per The Athletic\u2019s David Ornstein.<\/p>\n

City have been chasing the Morocco international for a number of weeks, especially after it emerged that Rodri was edging closer to a move to Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Our friends over at TEAMtalk revealed on August 11 that Man City<\/strong><\/a> were \u2018close to agreeing the record signing of Bouaddi<\/strong><\/a>\u2018, making him the most expensive teenager in football history as a result.<\/p>\n

And now Ornstein has confirmed that an agreement is in place for the supremely talented teenager to join Enzo Maresca\u2019s side, with a protracted switch on the brink of being officially signed off.<\/p>\n

READ: Transfer rumour ranking: Tottenham transfer list star as Liverpool get fresh Barcola boost<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Having sold Rodri and then Tijani Reinders, City have prioritised central midfield as an area to strengthen \u2013 having already spent \u00a3116m on England World Cup star Elliot Anderson.<\/p>\n

The Etihad outfit also remain interested in Chelsea\u2019s Enzo Fernandez, although they are currently backing off any deal given Chelsea\u2019s asking price of in excess of \u00a3120m.<\/p>\n

Bouaddi to sign lengthy City contract<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Athletic reporter Ornstein has confirmed that the deal is worth \u20ac95m, plus a further \u20ac5m in add-ons, with the young midfielder signing a five-year contract with the option of a further year.<\/p>\n

Bouaddi made a major impression at this summer\u2019s World Cup, starting five of Morocco\u2019s six matches in their run to the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

He also played a starring role in Lille\u2019s Champions League win over Real Madrid in 2024, a game which announced him on the European stage.<\/p>\n

Despite predominantly lining up in a defensive midfield role, which would allow Anderson to operate a bit further forward, Bouaddi also has the playmaking ability to play further forward.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Premier League transfer net spend table for 26\/27 season: Man City 16th!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bouaddi has played 88 times for Lille since making his debut in October 2023, just three days after his 16th birthday, and helped them finish third in Ligue 1 last season.<\/p>\n

If he signs early in the week, he could make his debut in Friday night\u2019s Premier League trip to the capital to take on Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City have agreed a deal in principle worth \u20ac100m (\u00a386m) to sign 18-year-old Lille midfield sensation Ayyoub…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[276143,9,10,18,13,14,793,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,2353,5,795,7,8],"class_list":["post-653254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ayyoub-bouaddi","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-front-page","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-manchester-city","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117148562624248759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}