5 hours ago
3
“He’s like a computer,” the former Lille head of academy recruitment, Mathieu Frison, says of the €100m (£85.7m) Manchester City recruit Ayyoub Bouaddi. “You teach him something, he learns it and can do it immediately.” Bouaddi has the mountainous challenge at his new club of replacing the world’s best central midfielder. It would be difficult for anyone but at 18 it feels monumental, although those who know the Morocco international best would not bet against him.
Bouaddi has known only Lille and Ligue 1 but is entering one of the biggest clubs in the world where a season without a trophy is deemed a failure. For someone so young, however, he has plenty of experience. He made his European debut three days after his 16th birthday and has played three full seasons in the first team, culminating in a place at the World Cup this summer.
At 13, Lille beat off competition from France’s elite to sign Bouaddi, after showing his parents the pathway he could follow to the first team. There was never lengthy discussion over money, just what would be best for a boy who wanted to reach the highest level. Lille’s track record is impressive, the club bringing through Bouaddi’s soon-to-be Premier League rivals Carlos Baleba and Leny Yoro, among others, in recent times.
Frison visited the Bouaddi family in Creil, an hour north of Paris, to explain why a move to Lille would be beneficial after scouts spotted Bouaddi playing for his home town team in a tournament. “He was not here at the beginning of the meeting with his parents, and he came in the house with the ball on a string,” Frison recalls. “He did a very good trick; he always had this ball in his hand and he always played in his house, so he was already very talented technically.”
City have faith in him, although plenty of the expenditure is based on promise rather than a finished article. He is not someone who creates highlight reels, but does the dirty work and plays for the team. Others may have sought someone with more miles in their legs, but Enzo Maresca is rebuilding a midfield for the long term after Rodri’s departure for Barcelona and with a £52m deal agreed for Nico González to join Newcastle. The 23-year-old Elliot Anderson arrived from Nottingham Forest as the first cog in the machine, and Enzo Fernández is also wanted by his former manager at Chelsea.
Bouaddi, the only boy of four siblings, passed all his exams a year early, is studying for a mathematics degree remotely and speaks English. He is a deep thinker, someone able to cut out the distractions at home and on the pitch. “On the bus, while everyone is watching YouTube videos or listening to music, he will play chess for one or two hours,” Frison says. “In the evening when all the players played Fifa or were on their phones, he studied mathematics, physics, science. His parents didn’t need to push him to do this – he wanted to learn.”
Bouaddi represented the country of his birth, France, from under-16 to under-21 and is regarded as a huge loss for Les Bleus. “Bouaddi, for me, is one of the smartest players I’ve known in my coaching career,” says the former France under-18 coach Landry Chauvin, who had Bouaddi in his squad for the Lafarge tournament in Limoges in 2024. “He reminds me a lot of Yoann Gourcuff, who I saw in Rennes a few years ago. As soon as the tournament was over, I told Les Espoirs [France’s Under-21s] that he should have nothing more to do with me, that he had to continue to progress and go above and beyond.”
Rodri has won everything worth winning over the past decade while Bouaddi was growing up. Emulating the Spaniard will not be straightforward for a player who is a long way from being fully developed. “When Maresca asks him to do something tactically, he knows that 100% Ayyoub will take the best position for the team,” Frison says.
“He will respect the game model with intensity, even when he is tired; he will respect the process. Everyone wants a player who can make the difference individually because they can help you to win the game but you need reliable players who you can trust 100% during 60 games of the season. And Ayyoub, he’s this kind of player.”
after newsletter promotion
Bouaddi has consistently mixed with – and surpassed – older players, quickly improving as he rapidly went through each step to the top. He was 16 when he featured for Chauvin’s France Under-18s and on his 17th birthday he faced Real Madrid in the Champions League, playing 90 minutes in a 1-0 win against Jude Bellingham et al.
“A very intelligent boy who adapts quickly, capable of playing in every position in the middle, capable of evolving in a changing environment, permanently working hard, but also always with his head held high,” Chauvin says. “He has the ability to scan the actions very quickly, to take the information before the others. Very comfortable technically, he always has the right position on the field. And on top of that, he’s a boy who’s charming in everyday life; very respectful, very well educated, who knows all the rules.
“The man who hides behind the footballer is simply a very beautiful person. Every time I went to Lille, I would send him a little text, and immediately he came to greet me, even though he was already a pro. Many in his place would have snubbed the under-18 coach, but not Ayyoub.”
