Maresca faces mounting pressure to start Bouaddi as City's midfield struggles continue

Enzo Maresca is facing increasing scrutiny over his reluctance to hand Ayyoub Bouaddi a regular starting role as Manchester City’s midfield anchor, with supporters convinced the 19-year-old Moroccan represents the clearest solution to the team’s defensive vulnerabilities in the centre of the pitch.

City paid a premium to sign Bouaddi from Lille in the summer, with sporting director Hugo Viana ultimately meeting the French club’s asking price after months of failed negotiations — a move accelerated by Rodri’s departure to Barcelona. Lille had been willing to loan the teenager back for the season, but City insisted he was ready to contribute immediately, with sources inside the club suggesting he would start more games than most anticipated.

Initial signs backed that confidence. Bouaddi impressed on his debut, coming off the bench to replace Elliot Anderson in a Champions League win at Porto. Maresca was effusive in his praise afterwards. “Tonight he was very good — you expect from Erling, Ruben, Mateo that they can manage these kind of games better, but you don’t expect it from a guy of 18,” the manager said. “I didn’t see him panic. He can speak French, English, Spanish perfectly. He is different in terms of how mature he is and this is why the club made the effort to bring him here.”

The performance that truly ignited supporter expectation came in the second half against Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad, when Bouaddi’s introduction transformed the game and produced what many described as one of City’s finest 45-minute spells in recent memory.

Since then, however, Maresca’s deployment of the teenager has frustrated fans. A league start against Ipswich was error-prone, a League Cup appearance against Brighton ended with him being substituted at half-time, and when Maresca finally paired Bouaddi with Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez in midfield, the youngster was pushed into a more advanced role rather than the deeper No.6 position supporters have been calling for — leaving City exposed again.

Following a defeat at Nottingham Forest, Maresca deflected questions about whether too much was being asked of Anderson, attributing City’s problems to individual errors rather than structural issues. “You concede transitions when you lose the ball like the first goal, and you concede transitions when you don’t win duels,” he said.

There remains a genuine question over whether Bouaddi is the ready-made solution some supporters believe him to be, and whether that second half against PSG reflected the team’s ceiling or simply a fortunate alignment of circumstances. But with City’s midfield continuing to look vulnerable and Bouaddi sitting on the bench, Maresca’s reluctance to hand him the No.6 role is becoming harder to defend — and each defeat without him in that position will only intensify the debate.