Arsenal prep £39.3m bid for French wonderkid as Fabrizio Romano backs second source’s claims

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·6 de diciembre de 2025

Arsenal prep £39.3m bid for French wonderkid as Fabrizio Romano backs second source’s claims

Arsenal are the ‘most likely’ bidders for Lille midfield prodigy Ayyoub Bouaddi, according to a French reporter, with Fabrizio Romano also confirming their interest amid competition from Chelsea.

Bouaddi has established himself in the Lille first team since making his debut two years ago and is now a regular sight in their midfield, despite still only being 18 years old. Naturally, with that kind of impact, he’s been turning heads and generating interest from other clubs.

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On Friday, Lille tied Bouaddi down to a new contract, extending its expiry date from 2027 to 2029. But that appears to be of little significance to suitors like Arsenal.

According to RMC Sport reporter Fabrice Hawkins, Arsenal are leading the race for Bouaddi and are ‘prepared’ to make an offer in the January transfer window.

Andrea Berta is supposedly in contact with Bouaddi’s representatives and wants to get ahead of the competition, including from Chelsea.

Hawkins also lists Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain as interested parties for Bouaddi, who is a France under-21 international.

Claiming Arsenal have a €45m (£39.3m) offer up their sleeve, which does admittedly fall short of Lille’s hopes of a fee above €50m (£43.7m), Hawkins has planted the seed for a January move to become a major topic for the Gunners – and he isn’t the only reporter confirming their interest.

Fabrizio Romano has also shared on his X page that Arsenal and Chelsea are monitoring Bouaddi’s progress, without going as far as to mention any contact from Berta or anything of the sort.

But if Arsenal did manage to get their hands on Bouaddi in January, would it be the right move at the right time?

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Analysing Arsenal’s move for Bouaddi

There’s no doubting Bouaddi’s high potential. He already has more than 70 appearances to his name for Lille and has experienced all three UEFA competitions.

Yet to score for his club, he performs best as a holding midfielder, but he’s the type that operates as a deep-lying playmaker and ball progressor, rather than a tough-tackling enforcer.

He would suit Arsenal’s style of play thanks to his ability on the ball, although a move to the Emirates Stadium in January might stifle his development.

After all, Arsenal signed Martin Zubimendi to become their sitting midfielder in the summer and the former Real Sociedad star has established himself as an important part of the side.

Arsenal also have Declan Rice or Christian Norgaard who would be comfortable playing at the base of their midfield, and while it’s not out of the question that Bouaddi could develop into more of a box-to-box player, the likes of Rice, Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze would pose competition there.

However, given the range of competition for his signature, Arsenal might need to accelerate their plans to sign Bouaddi so they don’t miss out.

Rivals like Chelsea are always ready to strike for young players, as seen by how they beat Arsenal to the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk a few years ago. Even though that move hasn’t worked out, it’s an example of how Arsenal might need to bite the bullet in future and stock themselves up with their next generation of talent.

It’s a strategy they are beginning to express, such as with the announcement this week of the upcoming signings of Ecuadorian twins Edwin and Holger Quintero.

They also looked to the future in an already-strong department this summer with the signing of centre-back Cristhian Mosquera at the age of 21, for example.

Bouaddi may have to sacrifice some level of gametime if he was to join Arsenal in the winter, or even next summer, but Mosquera – who was at Valencia before and made 16 appearances for Arsenal after his move, until his recent injury – is an example he could follow of how opportunities could still be there for the taking.