LILLE, France — The global football transfer market is buzzing with fresh speculation after highly touted teenage midfield talent Ayyoub Bouaddi was excluded from Lille’s matchday squad for the club’s 2025-26 season opening fixture against Angers this Sunday. The unexpected omission has fueled widespread reports that an eight-figure transfer to English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City is days away from completion.
Leading French sports outlet L’Equipe’s website and broadcaster RMC Radio have both reported that the 18-year-old Moroccan international is poised to sign a five-year contract with City, with the total transfer fee set at 100 million euros, equivalent to roughly $117 million. If finalized, the deal will mark one of the highest transfer fees ever paid for a teenager in European football history.
Bouaddi first rose to global prominence during the most recent FIFA World Cup, where his polished ball control, advanced tactical awareness and remarkable on-pitch maturity for a player his age drew praise from fans, pundits and top club scouts across the continent. For Manchester City, the potential signing is framed as a long-term succession plan: the club recently lost star holding midfielder Rodri, a former Ballon d’Or winner who departed for Barcelona after captaining Spain to World Cup glory earlier this year.
As of Sunday, neither Lille OSC nor Manchester City has issued an official confirmation or denial of the transfer talks. Manchester City was scheduled to host AFC Bournemouth in its own Premier League opening fixture the same weekend Bouaddi was left out of Lille’s squad, with no official comment emerging from either camp ahead of kickoff.
This is not the first time Bouaddi has been in the spotlight for his exceptional talent. Two years ago, the young midfielder was already being compared to Lille icon Eden Hazard, who left the French club to become a global star at Chelsea in the Premier League, with many observers labeling Bouaddi the most talented midfield prospect to emerge from Lille’s academy since Hazard.
Bouaddi joined Lille’s youth academy in 2021, and quickly made club history: just three days after his 16th birthday in October 2023, he became the youngest player ever to feature in a UEFA club competition, coming off the bench in a Europa Conference League fixture against Faroe Islands side KI Klaksvík.
The potential €100 million sale of Bouaddi would continue Lille’s well-documented track record of developing top young talent and securing record transfer fees for elite prospects. In 2019, the club sold Ivorian winger Nicolas Pépé to Arsenal for €80 million, followed a year later by the sale of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen to Napoli for a similar eight-figure sum. Both players went on to establish themselves as key starters at their new top-flight clubs.