Manchester City pays $116 million for Ayyoub Bouaddi, Lille's 18-year-old Moroccan midfielder

A hundred million euros for an 18-year-old who hasn't played a single minute in the Premier League yet. That's how bold Manchester City's bet was this Wednesday, confirming the signing of Ayyoub Bouaddi, the Moroccan midfielder arriving from Lille for 100 million euros (about 116 million dollars). The number is no small thing: it makes Bouaddi the most expensive signing in Premier League history for a player under 20.

City needed to reinforce its midfield, and urgently at that. Three key pieces have left in just a few months: Rodri headed to Barcelona, Tijjani Reijnders off to Saudi football, and Spaniard Nico Gonzalez, who has a deal sealed with Newcastle United. With that gap to fill, City went straight after one of the most coveted defensive midfielders in Europe.

Bouaddi is no stranger to anyone who follows Ligue 1 closely. At just 18, he already holds the record for most appearances in the French top flight before turning that age, and he has racked up 88 matches with Lille since his debut three seasons ago. This year, he was also a starter in five of Morocco's six matches at the 2026 World Cup, a sign of the trust he has already earned at the international level.

With this deal, the Moroccan also lands among the three most expensive signings in club history, trailing only Elliot Anderson and Jack Grealish. City, for its part, has made clear this summer was no bargain hunt: between arrivals and departures, the totals sit at roughly 280 million euros in each direction, almost perfectly balanced.

Perhaps the most striking part of the announcement was the tone the club chose to address the comparisons already swirling since interest in the player first became known, the ones tipping him as a possible heir to the 2024 Ballon d'Or. Rather than dodge the subject, the club's own welcome message took it head on:

Manchester doesn't ask you to be the next anyone else, it asks you to be the first you.Manchester City

The wallet stays open

And here's the question City fans are asking themselves: does this close out the midfield market? Everything suggests not. Enzo Maresca's coaching staff is still exploring the possibility of adding Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea, for a fee that would land around 140 million euros. Should that deal materialize, City would end up completely rewriting its own record books in a single summer, something that until recently seemed unthinkable even for a club accustomed to moving huge numbers in every transfer window.