Manchester City Break U18 Transfer Record for Ayyoub Bouaddi
Manchester City’s response to Pep Guardiola’s summer exit is becoming very clear: spend, and spend big.
Barely weeks after dropping €135 million on Elliot Anderson, City have gone back to the market and shattered another barrier, confirming the signing of Lille prodigy Ayyoub Bouaddi in a deal worth €100m. For an 18-year-old, it is not just a record. It is a statement.
The agreement is structured at €95m up front with a further €5m in add-ons, and Bouaddi has penned a five-year contract that runs until 2031. City are not just buying potential; they are locking it down for the long term.
Bouaddi arrives off the back of a breakout summer with Morocco at the World Cup, where the teenager’s performances pushed him firmly into the elite bracket of young talents. His rise has been rapid, his price tag even more so.
“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,” Bouaddi said in the club’s announcement.
The words fit the moment: a wonderkid stepping into a dressing room that has defined European football for the past decade.
This all comes in a summer of upheaval. City have already cashed in on 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who left for Barcelona in a deal worth €76.5m including add-ons last week. One midfield pillar out, another teenage hope in. Different profiles, different stages of their careers, but the financial scale underlines how aggressively City are reshaping the core of their side.
Bouaddi’s current market value sits around €80m. The final figure, brushing the €100m mark, fits this summer’s trend of inflated prices for elite youth. In truth, once the auction began, everyone around the deal knew a nine-figure package would probably be the number to close it.
A record that doesn’t just fall – it disappears
When it comes to the most expensive U18 players in football history, Bouaddi hasn’t just edged into first place. He has blown the previous benchmark away.
The €100m fee is more than double the old record, set when Manchester United paid Lille €62m for Leny Yoro in the 2024/25 season. That move, huge at the time, now slides into second place.
Behind them, the list reads like a who’s who of the next generation. Endrick sits third. Chelsea’s Estêvão follows in fourth. Real Madrid, long-time specialists in hoarding teenage brilliance, appear repeatedly: Franco Mastantuono, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo all joined Los Blancos at 18 for €45m apiece, underlining a recruitment strategy built on securing stars before they fully explode.
Tottenham’s €41.4m move for Archie Gray from Leeds occupies eighth place. Alessandro Bastoni’s switch to Inter comes in ninth. Wolves’ €40m outlay on Fábio Silva rounds out the top 10, a reminder that English clubs have been pushing the financial boundaries on youth for years.
That surge has consequences for history. Luke Shaw’s €37.5m transfer from Southampton to Manchester United back in 2014 once looked like a landmark for teenage defenders. Twelve years on, it no longer even makes the top 10.
Bouaddi now sits at the top of this new financial reality, the face of a market where 18-year-olds command nine-figure sums and superclubs treat age as an investment opportunity, not a restraint.
City have paid the premium. The question now is simple: can the teenager from Lille grow quickly enough to justify a fee that has rewritten the record books before his career has truly begun?
