Manchester City's latest Inside City video offers an unscripted look at the final chaotic days of a historic transfer window, capturing the moments behind four headline signings and two significant exits.
Manchester City have bolstered their midfield with the signing of Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille
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The footage covers a stretch of days that produced the arrivals of Ayyoub Bouaddi, Allan Elias, Iliman Ndiaye and Enzo Fernandez, alongside the departures of Omar Marmoush to Tottenham and Nico Gonzalez to Newcastle United: a volume of transfer activity compressed into a matter of days that most clubs would not match across an entire summer.
What the Inside City team captured goes beyond the handshakes and official media duties. It is the car journey, the dressing room speech, the goodbye on the training pitch.
As Manchester City prepare to face Coventry City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, here are the best snippets of the formative days that defined the Blues' window on an incomings front.
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Bouaddi: De Bruyne and Yaya Touré were my inspirations growing up
The video opens with Ayyoub Bouaddi in the back of a car on his way to his Manchester City medical at the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance, the 18-year-old Morocco international visibly taking in the scale of what is about to unfold.
Asked about his Premier League inspirations, Bouaddi said: "I really liked Kevin De Bruyne when he was in City and before him, Yaya Toure, he was really impressive. I think he was one icon of the midfielders."
The pairing of De Bruyne and Toure as his primary references speaks to the calibre of the role Bouaddi has mapped out for himself at the Etihad Stadium - two of the most dominant box-to-box midfielders in the Premier League's modern era.
The €100 million signing from Lille, €95 million upfront with €5 million in add-ons, joins on a five-year contract until 2031 after a summer in which he announced himself to a global audience at the FIFA World Cup in North America.
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Today is better than yesterday because you are here, Maresca tells Bouaddi
The video then captures Enzo Maresca meeting Bouaddi for the first time at the City Football Academy, a moment the manager had been anticipating for the better part of the summer as the pursuit of the teenager grew into one of the longest-running sagas of the window.
"Today it's better than yesterday," Maresca told Bouaddi on greeting him. "Because you are here!"
The warmth of the exchange reflects a manager who had placed Bouaddi at or near the top of his midfield wish list from the moment he arrived at the Etihad Stadium, and who had watched a deal that required CEO Ferran Soriano to fly to Lille for personal negotiations eventually reach its conclusion.
When Maresca later introduced the teenager to the full squad, the address he gave was one of the most quietly remarkable moments in the footage. "He is 18, and the most important thing, the message that we want to give you is that you don't need to prove to anyone here.
"We know how good you are. Now, the most important thing is just work, learn, enjoy, and be yourself. And you - and us all together - we need to help him in any moment, and again, try to be yourself: at the end, that is the most important. This is the journey that we all had when we were kids, dreaming, so all the best and welcome!"
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Haaland's farewell message to Marmoush
Not all the footage from the window's final days concerns arrivals. The Inside City team were also present for one of the more human moments of the window, Erling Haaland saying goodbye to Omar Marmoush ahead of the Egyptian's loan move to Tottenham.
"You'd better not ghost me on Snapchat," Haaland told his departing teammate.
Marmoush had arrived at the Etihad Stadium in January 2025 and left having made a significant impression, contributing 16 goals and six assists in 62 appearances in all competitions before the summer brought a change of direction for both club and player.
Nico Gonzalez also departed during the same window, with the 24-year-old Spaniard completing a permanent move to Newcastle United: a deal that cleared further space in a midfield being rebuilt around the summer's arrivals.
Viana and Soriano: The scenes after City's record Fernandez signing
The closing sequence of the video captures the moments after Manchester City confirmed the signing of Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for a new British transfer record of £125 million - the deal that ended one of the longest-running pursuits of deadline day.
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Hugo Viana, having completed his final major signing of the summer, did not hold back. "Well done guys! Well done! Good job, good job!" the director of football said.
The reaction captures the relief as much as the celebration: a window that demanded enormous energy, resources and no shortage of nerve, concluded at the final hour with the club's biggest ever fee and a player Maresca had wanted since the moment he arrived.
Enzo Fernandez himself turned to Soriano with a message that spoke to the relationship already formed with the people who made it happen. "Thank you very much! Thank you for your efforts and for how you handled this transfer. The truth is, it's a pleasure for me to be here at a great club like this, and hopefully we'll win many titles together!"
The 25-year-old Argentina international joins on a five-year contract until June 2031, reuniting with the manager who worked with him at Stamford Bridge and who drove the pursuit across the summer as one of his highest priorities at the Etihad Stadium.