Manchester City agree a club-record deal for 18-year-old Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi

Manchester City have reached an agreement with French club Lille to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi, an 18-year-old central midfielder who has already broken into Morocco's national team. Reports put the total package at roughly 100 million euros, or about 86 million pounds, made up of a large upfront fee plus performance-based add-ons.

If completed, the move would be the most expensive sale in Lille's history, passing the fee Arsenal paid for Nicolas Pepe in 2019. Bouaddi is reported to have agreed personal terms on a long contract running to 2031, with an option to extend further.

The interest in the teenager has been building for more than a year. He came through Lille's academy, became a regular in Ligue 1 while still in his teens, and is known for calm passing and positional discipline in front of the defence rather than flashy attacking numbers. That profile is why the deal has drawn so much attention: signing a player this young at this price is a bet on a decade of development, and it has made Bouaddi one of the most searched names in football this week.