Revealed: Man City CEO Ferran Soriano held June meeting with Lille president over Ayyoub Bouaddi | OneFootball

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano met with Lille president Olivier Létang in June as part of ongoing negotiations over the potential signing of midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, as per new reports.

The involvement of Ferran Soriano at the meeting stage underlines the level of priority Manchester City have placed on securing Bouaddi’s signature, with the CEO’s direct engagement in transfer negotiations having previously proved decisive in pushing through the £116 million signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest when talks threatened to collapse earlier this summer.

Ayyoub Bouaddi has been one of the most compelling young midfielders to emerge from French football in recent seasons, with the 18-year-old’s performances for Lille and for Morocco at the FIFA World Cup drawing sustained attention from some of Europe’s most prominent clubs throughout the window.

Manchester City’s interest in Bouaddi has been well-established across multiple months of reporting, with the club understood to view the Morocco international as a long-term investment in their midfield rather than an immediate first-team solution – though the two clubs have consistently differed on the precise structure and timing of any arrangement.

The revelation that a formal meeting between senior figures from both clubs took place as recently as the end of June places the negotiation at a more advanced stage than some of the surrounding coverage has implied, with Soriano’s presence at the table a clear indication that this is a pursuit Manchester City’s executive hierarchy have fully sanctioned at the highest level.

Report: Soriano and Létang meet as clubs disagree on timing of Man City deal

According to new reports, a meeting took place at the end of June between Lille president Olivier Létang and Manchester City representatives including Soriano, with the two parties engaging directly over the situation surrounding Bouaddi as the summer window entered its more active phase.

The core disagreement between the clubs centres on timing rather than the principle of a deal itself, with Lille understood to want Bouaddi to remain at the club for at least one further season of development, while Manchester City are pushing to complete his signing this summer and structure his immediate future around a loan arrangement back to the French club.

That position from City aligns with earlier reporting that the club’s preferred plan was to sign Bouaddi now before loaning him back to Lille for the 2026-27 season – a structure that would allow City to secure their target immediately while still meeting the French club’s desire to retain him for another year in Ligue 1.

Lille’s asking price of between £67 million and £84 million for Bouaddi, as previously reported by French sources, remains a further factor in negotiations that are described as ongoing, with no agreement yet in place despite the high-level meeting held at the end of last month.

What does Soriano’s involvement tell us about Man City’s pursuit of Bouaddi?

Soriano’s direct participation in negotiations carries particular significance given the pattern established earlier this summer, when his personal intervention was credited with salvaging the Anderson deal at a moment when Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had been minded to walk away and consider selling the midfielder to a rival club for a lower fee.

The fact that Soriano sat opposite Létang at a meeting dedicated solely to Bouaddi’s situation suggests Manchester City view this as a pursuit requiring executive-level attention from the outset, rather than the kind of negotiation that can be left entirely to the club’s sporting structure to conclude – a reflection of both the player’s profile and the complexity of dealing with a club that is, for now, reluctant to sanction a sale.

Director of football Hugo Viana has already committed significant resource to the midfield this summer through the Anderson deal, but the Bouaddi pursuit confirms that City’s ambitions in that area of the pitch extend beyond what has already been confirmed, with Enzo Maresca understood to want a larger squad than his predecessor worked with and a depth of options in central midfield to match.

Whether the gap between Lille’s preference for retention and City’s desire to conclude a deal this summer can be bridged before the window closes – and whether a loan-back structure ultimately provides the compromise both parties can agree on – is now the central question in a negotiation that has clearly been elevated to the very highest level on both sides of the table.