Manchester City completed the signing of the 18-year-old midfielder, Ayyoub Bouaddi, from Lille on Wednesday, 26 August 2026. Manchester City’s X-post confirmed it. He has never scored a Ligue 1 goal. He cost somewhere between £85m and £100m depending on which report you believe, and he arrives nine days after City sold Rodri to Barcelona.
Bouaddi, born 2 October 2007, joins on a five-year contract. Wikipedia’s transfer entry puts the fee at a reported £85.6m; Fabrizio Romano reported terms of €95m plus €5m in add-ons. Both figures make him one of the most expensive teenagers in Premier League history.
That gap between the reported numbers matters, and neither club had published a figure at the time of writing. Treat the fee as approximate until City or Lille confirm it.
Welcome to City, @BouaddiAyyoub 🩵 pic.twitter.com/iKi1XxAFSi
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 26, 2026
Who City have signed
Bouaddi is a holding midfielder who can fill in at right-back. He came through Lille’s academy after joining from AFC Creil in 2021, and he made 96 appearances in all competitions for the club, 63 of them in Ligue 1.
His goal record reads zero, but that is not the point.
| Details | Info |
|---|---|
| Age | 18 (born 2 October 2007) |
| Position | Defensive midfield, can play right-back |
| Previous club | Lille (academy 2021, first team to 2026) |
| Lille appearances | 96 all competitions, 63 in Ligue 1 |
| International | Morocco, switched from France in May 2026 |
| Contract | Five years, to 2031 |
The international switch is the detail that explains the price. Bouaddi captained France’s under-21 side, then committed to Morocco shortly before the World Cup. He started in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw with Brazil and took more touches than any other Moroccan player on the pitch, 87 of them. Morocco reached the quarter-finals and lost to France, the country he had turned down two months earlier.
He also studies mathematics. Every profile written about him in July mentioned it, and by the end of the tournament the price had roughly doubled.
City sold a Ballon d’Or winner and bought a teenager
Nine days before this, City accepted Barcelona’s bid for Rodri. Sky Sports and Al Jazeera both reported a fee of £65.4m, with a further €16.5m available in add-ons tied to what Rodri wins in Catalonia. He signed a four-year deal. ESPN reported the total package at €76.5m, so the numbers vary by source.
Rodri won the Ballon d’Or in 2024. City replaced him with an 18-year-old and a 23-year-old, and spent more than £200m doing it, because Elliot Anderson arrived from Nottingham Forest earlier in the window for a British record £116m.
Add the rest and the scale of the rebuild is obvious. Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Aké and Manuel Akanji have all left. Jeremy Monga (£13m from Leicester), Pierce Charles (£3m) and Gerónimo Rulli (£1.7m from Marseille) came the other way.
City have not replaced Rodri. They have dismantled the position and rebuilt it with two players who will cover the ground he covered standing still. This is Enzo Marecha’s team now.
Does it make sense?
Yes, but the price is still absurd. Bouaddi is the closest positional successor available on the market; he is five years younger than Rodri was when City bought him. Rodri himself cost £62.8m in 2019, a release clause City paid without blinking.
The problem is what City paid for and when. In May, Bouaddi was a promising Lille academy graduate with no goals and a France under-21 armband. In July, he anchored Morocco’s midfield against Brazil on the biggest stage in the game. The fee reflects six weeks of tournament football, not four years of Ligue 1.
City are good at this and can afford to be wrong. Most clubs paying a World Cup premium on a teenager end up funding somebody else’s rebuild.
