Liverpool's Pursuit of Ayyoub Bouaddi: The €100m Challenge
Liverpool’s pursuit of Ayyoub Bouaddi is very much alive. Manchester City may be preparing what has been described as a “hard push” for the Lille midfielder, but those inside Anfield have not walked away from the table.
This is the new reality under Andoni Iraola: Liverpool want legs, intensity and edge in midfield. Bouaddi ticks all three boxes.
Iraola’s midfield rethink
Iraola’s first week in front of the cameras set the tone. The Spaniard spoke clearly about reshaping Liverpool without Mohamed Salah, about the need for a new winger, but his comments on the middle of the pitch were just as revealing.
He made it plain he wants Curtis Jones to stay. He also hinted at fresh chances for a couple of midfielders who had looked finished under Arne Slot. Even so, there is a shared understanding at the club that the current group will not be enough to fully power Iraola’s high-tempo game over a long season.
At least one new midfielder is viewed as essential. Not a squad filler, but a player who can add power, athleticism and presence to the engine room.
That is where Bouaddi comes in.
Bouaddi’s rise and the City threat
Liverpool’s interest in the Lille star dates back to June. By then, the teenager had already built a senior résumé that most 25-year-olds would envy: 96 appearances for the Ligue 1 side at just 18.
His World Cup with Morocco has pushed him into a different bracket. Arsenal, PSG and Real Madrid have all taken notice. His performances in North America did not just catch the eye; they inflated the price.
On Tuesday, the landscape shifted again. Reports emerged that Manchester City were ready to accelerate their move, with David Ornstein describing their approach as a “hard push”, set against the backdrop of an 11-player clearout at the Etihad.
City have the money and the willingness to spend it on emerging talent. That matters, because the fee is now the key battleground.
The €100m question
Specialist Liverpool reporter David Lynch has underlined the problem: the price.
Earlier in the summer, a bid in the region of €60m (£51m, $68m) might have forced Lille into a serious conversation. That figure has gone. Lille now want around €100m (£85m, $114m) for Bouaddi, a valuation inflated not only by his World Cup but also by the wider market, where City’s £116m move for Elliot Anderson has dragged midfield prices into new territory.
Lynch accepts that the fee could block Liverpool. He also makes it clear they are not out of the race.
“He’s definitely a player Liverpool admire and have done before the World Cup,” Lynch told the Anfield Index podcast. The problem, as he put it, is that Bouaddi’s excellent tournament has “pushed the price up even further” and into a range “that maybe Manchester City are slightly more willing to pay for a younger player than Liverpool would be.”
Even so, he stressed that it is “still early days in that one” and that “we’re [not] in the place where we can completely rule them out.”
Liverpool are still at the table. They are just not ready to go all-in. Not yet.
FSG’s balancing act
For Fenway Sports Group, the path to Bouaddi runs through the exit door.
Lynch believes significant midfield business will require sales first. “The big thing you can say about midfield and coming to Liverpool is that it’s going to take some outgoings,” he said. “For midfield movement, you’re going to need to see outgoings – and maybe if we do see an outgoing, they kind of come at Bouaddi a bit stronger.”
That is the equation: sell well, then strike. Without that, an £85m commitment to an 18-year-old, however gifted, stretches the model.
Inside the club, though, there is no debate over the player himself. As Lynch summed it up: “The one thing I do know about this is that he’s a player that they like.”
City are ready to push. Lille are holding out for a huge fee. Liverpool are watching, waiting, weighing their move.
If the right offer lands for one of their current midfielders, the waiting may not last long.
