Man City agree £81.4m deal for Lille teenager Bouaddi as midfield rebuild accelerates

Manchester City have agreed a deal worth an initial £81.4m (€95m) with Lille to sign defensive midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, with a further £4.3m in potential add-ons taking the total to £85.7m (€100m). The 18-year-old Moroccan international is set to become City’s second major midfield signing of the summer window, with a five-year contract — plus an option for a sixth — underlining the club’s long-term ambitions for the teenager.

Bouaddi’s arrival follows Elliot Anderson’s club-record £116m signing and comes in direct response to the departures of Rodri and Bernardo Silva. Lille had been reluctant to sell and pushed for a substantial fee to release Bouaddi a year earlier than they would have preferred, ultimately securing one of the largest fees ever paid for a player of his age.

City’s midfield reconstruction is not yet complete. Tijjani Reijnders also left the club in the past week, and manager Enzo Maresca — who succeeded Pep Guardiola this summer — is understood to need further reinforcements before the window closes. The club are working to bring in at least one more central midfielder before the deadline.

Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez is identified as a primary target, though the west London club are expected to demand in excess of £100m for the Argentina international. Roma’s Manu Koné has also emerged as an alternative option, with City’s recruitment staff active on multiple fronts as the window enters its final hours.

The scale of City’s spending this summer reflects the scale of the task facing Maresca. Losing Rodri — the reigning Ballon d’Or winner — and Bernardo Silva in the same window left a significant void in the engine room, and the club have responded with a series of high-profile, high-cost acquisitions to ensure the squad remains competitive at the top of the Premier League and in Europe.