Lille set Ayyoub Bouaddi asking price as Man City recruit long-term Elliot Anderson partner | OneFootball

Lille are demanding between €80–100 million for Manchester City target Ayyoub Bouaddi, with the French club’s president preferring a sale that incorporates a one-year loan for the midfielder to continue his development, as per a new report from France.

Bouaddi has been one of the defining stories of the summer transfer window, with the 18-year-old’s performances for Morocco at the FIFA World Cup in North America having accelerated interest in a player City had already been monitoring heading into the summer transfer window.

The Blues were recently reported to be working towards a deal that would see the 18-year-old sign for the club now before remaining at Lille on loan for a further season, joining incoming Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca‘s first-team squad at the Etihad Stadium ahead of the 2027-28 campaign.

Report: Lille president sets €80-100M asking price as loan-back structure takes shape

According to RMC Sport insider Fabrice Hawkins, Lille president Olivier Létang is demanding a fee between €80-100M for Bouaddi, with the Ligue 1 club’s preference being for a sale structure that incorporates a one-year loan back at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.This arrangement – similar to Manchester City’s agreement with River Plate to sign Julian Alvarez in 2022 (although that was a six-month loan back) – would allow Bouaddi to remain in France and continue his development at a club he knows well before making the step up to the Premier League.

That stance from within Lille significantly narrows the gap between what the selling club want and what City are understood to be planning, with both parties now appearing to be in agreement on the broad structure of a deal – leaving the fee as the primary outstanding point of negotiation between the two clubs.

The €80-100 million range Lille are demanding would represent a significant outlay for a player who would not be available to Maresca until the summer of 2027, though the fee sits within the range that City sporting director Hugo Viana has demonstrated a willingness to commit to for players identified as long-term cornerstones of his squad rebuild.

What does Lille’s valuation mean for Man City’s pursuit of Bouaddi?

The alignment on structure between City and Lille represents meaningful progress in what had previously appeared to be a more complex negotiation, with the two clubs now separated primarily by the question of fee rather than the fundamental mechanics of how the deal would work.

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are also understood to hold an interest in Bouaddi – and Lille’s willingness to brief their asking price for the Morocco international publicly suggests the French outfit are actively inviting competing offers – rather than treating City as the sole serious suitor at this stage of the process.

Whether City are prepared to meet Lille’s valuation or whether Viana will seek to negotiate the fee closer to the lower end of the €80-100 million range before committing, remains the defining question in a pursuit that appears to be gathering pace on both sides as the summer window enters a more decisive phase.