City have reached full agreement with Lille for Ayyoub Bouaddi, sources close to the deal have confirmed, in a move that makes the 18-year-old the most expensive teenager in Premier League history.
The fee: €95m rising to €100m with add-ons — roughly £86m — eclipsing the £58.9m Manchester United paid Lille for Leny Yoro back in 2024. Bouaddi is set to sign a long-term contract through to 2031, with an option for a further year.
It’s the latest piece in City’s midfield rebuild following a summer that’s stripped out three-quarters of last season’s engine room.
Rodri left for Barcelona, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders have also gone, and Hugo Viana has been on the phone to Lille all summer as a result.
Elliot Anderson’s £116m arrival from Nottingham Forest already addressed part of the gap; Bouaddi is the follow-up.
Lille had resisted for months. Chairman Olivier Létang insisted as recently as this summer that he expected Bouaddi to stay for 2026-27, and the north French club had previously knocked back interest from Arsenal, PSG and Bayern Munich. A nine-figure offer changed that calculus.
The teenager’s stock has never been higher. He was one of the standout performers of Morocco’s run to the World Cup quarter-finals, and Carlo Ancelotti — who has faced him with Lille — has called him one of the best young players in the world. And he was left out of Lille’s league opener against Angers on Sunday.
City aren’t done yet, either. Newcastle’s interest in Nico González could yet force another midfield departure before deadline day, so keep an eye on the live Man City transfer tracker for what comes next.
