Manchester City agree five-year contract terms with Ayyoub Bouaddi as Lille negotiations enter final stages

Manchester City agree five-year contract terms with Ayyoub Bouaddi as Lille negotiations enter final stages Talks between Man City & Lille described as “particularly intense” as clubs seek common ground Bouaddi has agreed personal terms with Man City on a contract until 2031 Man City confident of completing a deal in the next days, with a fee gap of ~€10M remaining Manchester City have agreed personal terms with Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi and are confident to close a deal with Lille in the coming days, as per reports. The 18-year-old midfielder has established himself as one of the most coveted young midfielders in European football after a breakthrough season with Lille in Ligue 1 and an eye-catching performance at the FIFA World Cup in North America with Morocco . Multiple credible sources have now converged around a picture of a deal in its final stages – with personal terms agreed, a fee range established, and confidence growing on both sides that a resolution is close, though the precise structure of the package separating the two clubs remains under active negotiation. Revealed: Man City CEO Ferran Soriano held June meeting with Lille president over Ayyoub Bouaddi Manchester City’s pursuit of Bouaddi has been one of the defining storylines of the summer window, with CEO Ferran Soriano attending a meeting with Lille president Olivier Létang at the end of June as the club signalled its intent to complete the deal at the highest executive level, mirroring the intervention that ultimately proved decisive in the British record signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. The latest wave of reporting from France and Switzerland now provides the clearest picture yet of exactly where the negotiations stand, with the gap between the two clubs narrowing to a question of final structure rather than fundamental disagreement over the principle of a deal. Hawkins, Romano and Tavolieri: Contract agreed, deal expected within days as fee gap narrows As reported by Fabrice Hawkins of RMC Sport , negotiations between the Etihad Stadium’s executives and Lille have become “particularly intense” as both parties work to find common ground on a transfer, with discussions also underway between Manchester City and the player’s entourage directly. Fabrizio Romano adds that Manchester City are confident of completing a deal for Bouaddi in the coming days – the most definitive timeline yet attached to a pursuit that has been reported as ongoing since the early stages of the window. The most granular detail arrives from Sacha Tavolieri , who reports that Bouaddi has already agreed a personal contract with Manchester City until 2031, with the outstanding issue now being the fee itself – Lille continuing to target the €100 million mark while City are pushing to finalise a deal worth around €90 million fixed, with potential bonuses on top. The gap between the two valuations – approximately €10 million in headline figures – is the final obstacle in a negotiation that has already seen Soriano and Létang meet directly and both parties edge consistently toward the position they now occupy. Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi poised for major position change at Manchester City What would Bouaddi’s signing mean for Manchester City? Bouaddi would arrive as the second major midfield addition of the summer alongside Anderson, completing a rebuild of the central midfield that Enzo Maresca identified as the most pressing priority of his first window in charge. Whether the fee gap can be bridged in the coming days – through a combination of fixed fee and performance-related bonuses – is now the sole remaining obstacle between Manchester City and the completion of a signing that would send another unmistakeable signal of the club’s ambitions in the post-Guardiola era. Maresca and his pre-season contingent have landed in Hong Kong for their opening fixtures before they jet off to Seoul ahead of a return to the UK to face Arsenal in the FA Community Shield in mid-August.