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Manchester City FC

26 August 2026

New signing Ayyoub Bouaddi has said he will ‘give everything, every time for City’ after completing his transfer to the Etihad.

The highly rated Morocco international has joined the Club from French side Lille and has signed a five-year deal that will keep him in Manchester until the summer of 2031.

Although he is still only 18, Bouaddi arrives with a reputation as one of the most exciting young midfield talents in world football.

Regarded as one of the best teenagers to come through in Ligue 1 in many years, the defensive midfielder further enhanced that reputation with a string of superb individual performances for Morocco at the recent 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.

But after signing his City contract, Bouaddi made it clear that, for him, the team’s needs will always come before any individual recognition.

“I would say I am a player who plays for the team,” Bouaddi said.

“I am a really collective player.

“I try to put my teammate in the best position and to give everything every time for the team.

“I think the most important aspect is to try to balance the team, [to] help your teammates.

“We know as a No.6 that you’re not going to score 20 goals in a season; well it can happen but it’s quite rare.

“So, you know you have to balance the team and do everything for the team and do your job.”

Despite his young age, Bouaddi has already built up significant big-match experience, having made his senior debut for Lille when he was just 16.

In total, he made almost 100 senior appearances for the French club and said the chance to join one of the biggest clubs in the world had arrived at exactly the right stage of his career.

“I think it was the right time because I was good in Lille,” the 18-year-old added.

“I felt very good, but I felt it was the right moment to step over.

“I started playing really quite young at six-years-old.

“I was in Creil, a small city in France. Then I went in Lille when I was 14 years old. I played in the Academy and then I started playing with the First Team.

“Then I started playing Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, World Cup. And today I’m here.

“I am really, really happy – really proud to be here at one of the greatest clubs in the world and I hope everything is going to be right in the future.

“Coming to City I think was the right thing to do and I am really happy and proud to be here.”