Manchester City Targets Lille Star Ayyoub Bouaddi After Rodri Sale

Manchester City are pushing hard to sign Lille sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi, with talks described as advanced as the Premier League champions move to reshape their midfield.

City want the deal wrapped up this week after agreeing to sell Rodri to Barcelona, a decision that has forced an immediate and ambitious response in the market. Bouaddi, just 18, has been identified as a cornerstone for the next era.

Lille are holding firm on their valuation. The French club are understood to want 100 million euros (£85.6m) for the Morocco international, a fee that reflects both his current influence and his frightening ceiling.

This is not a signing built on promise alone. Bouaddi’s rise has been rapid and very public. He lit up Lille’s Champions League victory over Real Madrid in 2024, a performance that thrust him into the European spotlight and marked him as one of the most exciting young midfielders on the continent.

The momentum did not stop there. At this summer’s World Cup, he started five of Morocco’s six matches in their run to the quarter-finals, handling the intensity and scrutiny of the tournament with striking composure. On the biggest stage, he looked at home.

On the pitch, Bouaddi operates as a deep-lying conductor, dictating tempo from the base of midfield, breaking lines with his passing and offering calm under pressure. City see him as a player who can both protect and ignite their attacks, knitting together phases of play in a way that fits their possession-heavy model.

He would slot into a rebuilt engine room that already includes summer signing Elliot Anderson. Anderson brings energy and versatility, comfortable as a box-to-box presence and capable of operating as a number six for England. Bouaddi’s more orchestrating style would complement that profile, giving City a blend of control and dynamism through the middle.

For someone still in his teens, Bouaddi’s experience is striking. Since making his debut for Lille in October 2023, three days after his 16th birthday, he has already amassed 88 appearances for the club. Last season he helped drive them to a third-place finish in Ligue 1, anchoring a side that leaned heavily on his maturity and range.

City now want that maturity at the heart of their next midfield. If they meet Lille’s price and close the deal in the coming days, the champions will be betting that an 18-year-old from Morocco can grow into the role Rodri leaves behind — and perhaps redefine it.