Bouaddi answers critics with convincing first start at Porto

Ayyoub Bouaddi answered his doubters on Tuesday evening on the pitch at FC Porto, where he made his first Champions League start for Manchester City. The 18-year-old Moroccan midfielder, signed this summer for €100M from LOSC, impressed his coach, teammates and pundits in this first European match for the Citizens.

The previous week, pundit Pierre Ménès had publicly questioned the logic of the transfer, deeming it incomprehensible to spend such a sum on a player confined to the bench in his first two Premier League appearances. Deployed by Enzo Maresca alongside Enzo Fernandez, Bouaddi dispelled these doubts in 90 minutes.

Erling Haaland, who scored twice against the Portuguese side, made no secret of his enthusiasm. “In training, he’s incredible, I’ve spoken to the president about it. We have a gem! He had a very good match tonight but I think he should have given me a pass in the second half, I was all alone,” said the Norwegian, not without a touch of playfulness.

Maresca also emphasized the unusual maturity of his young midfielder. “He’s a fantastic player. You can expect Erling, Ruben Dias or Mateo Kovacic to manage this kind of match better, but you don’t expect that from an 18-year-old player. I didn’t see him panic for a moment,” he said.

Two football legends, Clarence Seedorf and Wayne Rooney, agreed. The Dutchman drew a parallel with Sergio Busquets: “Some find him slow, but Busquets was too. Being able to keep the ball, position yourself correctly and read the game with such intelligence at his age, that’s exceptional.” Rooney stressed the difficulty of the task: “Playing in Rodri’s position with such discipline and maturity at only 18 years old, that’s extremely difficult. His ability to get past opponents with body feints can’t be taught.”

It remains to be seen whether this Champions League performance will be enough to convince Maresca to give him more playing time in the league, where Bouaddi has so far only featured as a substitute.