The cost may be high for Manchester City to sign a Moroccan sensation, but they have to make the move | OneFootball

Manchester City have already spent big to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. David Ornstein reported for The Athletic that City paid £116 million to sign the powerful midfielder. It is no secret that City remain in the market for another midfielder. Lille’s 18-year-old midfield sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi is looming as City’s preferred target. However, it has been reported that the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders will have to pay a premium to sign Bouaddi. With transfer fees for quality midfielders having exploded this summer and based on Bouaddi’s talent and potential, it is a price that Manchester City simply have to pay.

Manchester City will likely have to pay near enough to €100 million to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille.

David Ornstein revealed yesterday in the Athletic’s weekly Transfer DealSheet segment that Manchester City are pushing hard to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. It is also reported by Ornstein that Lille are demanding a transfer in the region of €100 million (£85 million) to sell the Moroccan midfielder.

On first glance, paying anywhere near £85 million for a midfielder appears steep. However, this summer has seen the price of quality midfielders surge. Manchester City have already paid £116 million to sign Elliot Anderson. Tottenham paid Newcastle £100 million to sign Sandro Tonali. Those two moves have set the market for quality midfielders. Ayyoub Bouaddi is already a proven quality midfielder based on his performances for Lille. His impressive World Cup campaign with Morocco further confirmed Bouaddi’s pedigree.

Looking specifically at the case of Ayyoub Bouaddi and what Manchester City may have to pay to sign him, £85 million, or thereabouts, could prove to be a shrewd piece of business. Bouaddi is only 18, and looks to be a generational midfield prospect. Also, the Moroccan midfielder looms as the ideal long-term successor to Rodri. Obviously, to get to that point Bouaddi would have to kick on as a player if City did sign him. But all indications are that he will do so. If City were to sign Bouaddi and he becomes the player he promises to be, paying £85 million would be viewed as a shrewd piece of business.

Final thoughts.

If Manchester City are to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, they’ll have to pay a sizable transfer fee to Lille to do so. That is dictated by the summer transfer market, as it is by Bouaddi’s clear talent and potential to become one of the elite midfielders in European and world football. However, City will know this and it won’t deter them from pushing on for a move for a player who could become a long-term contributor for the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders if they do win the race to sign Bouaddi.