{"id":691329,"date":"2026-07-14T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691329\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:17:09","slug":"manchester-city-set-sights-on-signing-moroccos-ayyoub-bouaddi-for-85m-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691329\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City set sights on signing Morocco\u2019s Ayyoub Bouaddi for \u00a385m | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester City are intent on signing Lille\u2019s 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi for \u20ac100m (\u00a385m).<\/p>\n

Bouaddi is attracting a host of suitors following his performances for Morocco at the World Cup, and while the proposed fee is high for a teenager, City view him as a long-term investment.<\/p>\n

Hugo Viana, City\u2019s director of football, is an admirer of Bouaddi\u2019s technical ability and positional sense and there is scant concern regarding the ability of a 6ft 1in player to negotiate the physical challenges of Premier League football. Enzo Maresca\u2019s plan is to integrate Bouaddi into his first-team squad for next season.<\/p>\n

Bouaddi started five of Morocco\u2019s six games at the World Cup, including the 2-0 quarter-final defeat by France<\/a>. It was only his eighth international appearance, with his professional debut coming for Lille against Ki in a Europa Conference group game in October 2023 . At 16 years and three days, that made him the youngest footballer to play in competition.<\/p>\n

Signing Bouaddi would take City\u2019s summer spend to \u00a3200m on two players following the \u00a3116m signing of Elliott Anderson from Nottingham Forest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Manchester United have confirmed the signing of 35-year-old goalkeeper Karl Darlow, subject to registration.<\/p>\n

Darlow has agreed a two-year deal after leaving Leeds last month and will provide competition to Senne Lammens. \u201cI am extremely proud to sign for Manchester United – this is a really special opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone can see what an exciting time it is for the club and I cannot wait to play my part in supporting my team mates – and helping to drive the group forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Wilcox, United\u2019s director of football, said: \u201cKarl has proven his ability to perform at the highest level, his work ethic and determined personality make him a really strong addition to our squad. We are delighted to add a player of his quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darlow has made 279 career appearances, 74 in the Premier League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City are intent on signing Lille\u2019s 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi for \u20ac100m (\u00a385m). Bouaddi is attracting a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-691329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}