Manchester City Break U18 Transfer Record for Ayyoub Bouaddi
Manchester City are not easing off the accelerator in the first summer after Pep Guardiola’s departure. If anything, they’re flooring it.
Barely weeks after spending €135 million on Elliot Anderson, City have gone even bigger, confirming the signing of Lille sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi in a deal worth €100m. That’s €95m guaranteed, with a further €5m tied up in add-ons, for an 18-year-old who has just lit up the World Cup with Morocco.
He arrives on a five-year contract running until 2031. For a teenager, it’s a colossal show of faith. For City, it’s a statement that their post-Guardiola era will still be built on elite, expensive talent.
Bouaddi, speaking via the club’s announcement, did not hide what the move means to him: “Manchester City are, for me, the best Club in the world. It’s a dream to be here and be able to call myself a City player. I have spent most of my life working hard to become the best player I can be and reach the top of the game.”
City’s midfield has already been shaken up this summer. Rodri, fresh from winning the 2024 Ballon d’Or, left for Barcelona in a deal worth €76.5m including add-ons. Losing the game’s most dominant holding midfielder would break most sides. City’s answer has been to throw their weight, and their wallet, behind the next generation.
Bouaddi’s current market value stands at around €80m. The final fee, nudging up to €100m, fits neatly into a window defined by inflated prices and aggressive bidding for the game’s brightest young stars. This one, though, doesn’t just nudge a record. It destroys it.
A record shattered, not just broken
The Bouaddi transfer is now the benchmark for teenage deals. At €100m, he becomes the most expensive U18 player of all time by a huge margin.
The previous record? Also involving Lille. Manchester United paid the French club €62m to sign Leny Yoro in the 2024/25 season. That figure now looks modest by comparison, pushed down to second place on the all-time list.
Behind them, the landscape of elite teenage transfers is already crowded. Endrick’s move and Chelsea’s signing of Estêvão sit next in line, part of a trend where clubs are willing to pay senior-star money for players barely out of academy football.
Real Madrid have long been at the forefront of this strategy. Their business reads like a roll call of teenage superstardom: Franco Mastantuono, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo all arrived at 18 for €45m each, calculated gambles that have shaped the club’s future.
The list keeps growing. Tottenham’s €41.4m move for Archie Gray from Leeds takes eighth place among the most expensive U18s, another reminder of how English clubs in particular are prepared to go big on youth. Alessandro Bastoni’s switch to Inter sits just behind, while Wolves’ €40m outlay on Fábio Silva completes the current top 10.
That final spot comes at the expense of a name that once symbolised the height of teenage spending: Luke Shaw. His €37.5m transfer from Southampton to Manchester United in 2014 stood as a landmark for years. Now, after 12 seasons, it’s been squeezed out of the top bracket by a new generation and a new financial reality.
Bouaddi’s move doesn’t just reset the market for U18s. It raises a sharper question: in a City midfield remade without Rodri, is this 18-year-old record-breaker arriving as a project for tomorrow, or as the player expected to carry the weight of today?
