Lille announced Bouaddi\u2019s departure on a five-year deal on Wednesday, putting an end to ongoing speculation about the emerging talent\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
Ten-time Premier League champions Manchester City were in talks to sign Bouaddi after selling Rodri to Barcelona and Tijjani Reijnders to Al-Qadsiah, with Nico Gonzalez also poised to leave the Etihad.<\/p>\n
Bouaddi was a crucial part of Morocco\u2019s FIFA World Cup 2026 squad, showing a calm presence in the midfield as the Atlas Lions reached the quarterfinals of the tournament before falling to France.<\/p>\n
Lille extended Bouaddi\u2019s contract last year and, with three years remaining on the deal, they were expecting suitors to meet the 100 million euros (\u20ac117m) asking price.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very special day for me and my family,\u201d Bouaddi said in a statement shared by City.<\/p>\n
\u201cManchester City are, for me, the best club in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dream to be here and be able to call myself a City player. I have spent most of my life working hard to become the best player I can be and reach the top of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve watched City for many years, and I love their style of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cCity always try and play quality football. And they have shown they are winners \u2013 this Club feels like it\u2019s built to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prodigious talent<\/p>\n
Having risen through the French youth ranks, Bouaddi was tied to the French national team programme and marked as a future talent. Earlier this year, he became the youngest player to record 50 appearances in France\u2019s top tier of club football \u2013 Ligue 1.<\/p>\n
Being ahead of his time has been a theme throughout Bouaddi\u2019s career. On the eve of his 17th birthday, in 2024, the rising star helped Lille secure a famous Champions League victory over Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
On that special October night in northern France, Bouaddi faced a midfield comprising French internationals Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni.<\/p>\n
Football experts have repeatedly heaped praise on Bouaddi\u2019s ability to soak up pressure and stand out as a midfield maestro for his club and country.<\/p>\n
Bouaddi\u2019s versatility can be seen on the pitch. Typically, holding midfielders are known for their defensive abilities \u2013 shielding the defence from the opposition\u2019s attacks by cutting out passing lanes \u2013 but this young talent\u2019s repertoire includes the ability to start an attack, too.<\/p>\n
He is now the symbol of this new team and the rising star among Moroccan fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is amazing. What a talent, what a professional at 18 years of age,\u201d Mohammed, a Morocco fan and the manager of Restaurante Jerusalem in Barcelona, Spain, told Al Jazeera in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those that slept instead of watching Brazil versus Morocco, they missed out on discovering the new [Sergio] Busquets,\u201d Khalil Jadallah, a football commentator, said of Bouaddi\u2019s talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can pass, he can defend, he can carry the ball, control the tempo \u2026 all this and he is only 18 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Morocco's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26185662942210-1787742213.jpg\")
Ayyoub Bouaddi during Morocco\u2019s World Cup round of 16 match against Canada [File: Eric Gay\/AP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sought-after Bouaddi joins the Premier League club from Lille in a five-year deal worth $117m. Manchester City have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1025427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[440,1318,3097,59368,50,1926,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1025426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-middle-east","tag-morocco","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117162393187392299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}