Manchester City have struck an agreement with Lille to sign 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi in a deal worth up to €100m (£86m), as the club continues a significant summer spending spree. The package includes a base fee of €95m (£81.4m) with a further €5m in potential add-ons, pushing City's outlay for the window close to £200m following the earlier £116m acquisition of Elliot Anderson.
Bouaddi was withdrawn from Lille's Ligue 1 fixture against Angers over the weekend as talks progressed, with a medical at City expected before the move is finalized in the coming days. Much of the transfer fee is understood to stem from the recent £65m sale of Rodri to Barcelona.
The Morocco international, who primarily plays as a defensive midfielder, has enjoyed a remarkable rise despite his young age. He became Lille's youngest-ever player when he debuted at 16 years and three days old in a Conference League fixture in October 2023, and later broke a record previously held by Eden Hazard by reaching 50 Ligue 1 appearances before turning 19. He also featured for Lille in a Champions League win over Real Madrid, celebrating on his 17th birthday with fans singing his name inside the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
This summer, Bouaddi was a key figure for Morocco at the World Cup, starting five of the nation's six matches, including a 2-0 quarter-final loss to France, as the Atlas Lions became the first African side to reach back-to-back World Cup quarter-finals. It was only his eighth cap for the senior national team.
Despite interest from both Morocco and France—where he came through the youth ranks—Bouaddi committed his international future to Morocco, a decision he explained was rooted in family heritage rather than the country of his birth. He shared an old photograph of himself as a 10-year-old watching the 2018 World Cup in a Morocco shirt, writing that he was aware of