City Director of Football Hugo Viana believes the sky is the limit for Ayyoub Bouaddi and has revealed how the Moroccan midfielder had been a long-term key target for the Club.
The 18-year-old joined City from French side Lille in late August towards the conclusion of what proved an extremely busy and productive summer transfer window for Viana and the Club.
Along with the likes of Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson, Iliman Ndiaye and Allan to name just a few, Bouaddi’s arrival helped add further lustre to what is a hugely exciting and new-look City squad forged under manager Enzo Maresca.
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Despite having been at the Etihad for less than a month, Bouaddi has already offered several tantalising and exciting first glimpses of his quality and vast potential.
And in a special interview with City Studios to reflect on the 2026 summer window as well as looking ahead, Viana revealed how the Bouaddi deal had been one long in the making.
“Since the beginning [we were obsessed with him],” Viana said.
“We’ve followed him especially for the last year and we had a conversation with the President of Lille before the World Cup.
“It’s a position that we thought we could have to be very decisive during this transfer window and Bouaddi was always the target.
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“We had a positive conversation with the President of Lille and then we had the opportunity to speak to him.
“When you speak with him, you have more desire to bring that mentality to our building. We were really happy to reach an agreement with Lille.
“We spoke with them before, but he had a really good World Cup.
“We had very good information on him as a person.
“It was not easy, but he showed us that he really wants to be here and join us at this level.
“It’s a very high ceiling for him.
“We all believe that he can be a really important player for Manchester City.
“If we had to bring a proper No.6, it will be him because of his calmness and he’s very good with the ball.”
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Viana was equally delighted with the recruitment and instant impact of fellow midfielder Fernández, who was City’s final summer capture right at the very tail end of deadline day.
The 25-year-old brought him with him a wealth of elite level experience – as well as the kudos of being a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022.
But above all for Viana, it’s his mentality and character that marked Fernández out as another stellar addition, especially in the wake of the departure of several key personnel.
“We cannot forget that we lost very important players in the midfield position like Rodri and Bernardo,” Viana pointed out.
“It’s important to bring the quality but also the character and the mentality that Enzo has.
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“Maresca was working with him and knows him very well, but we can be very sure about what he can give us during the game.
“He’s [been] here for three weeks, and it seems that he was here for a year or two already.
“He’s that kind of player and mentality that we were looking for in that position because Rodri and Bernardo were really important in the last decade of the club.
“We all believe that Enzo, Bouaddi and Anderson can be as important as Rodri and Bernardo in the past.”
A graphic showing Hugo Viana with the 'Transfer Window 26/27' text and Manchester City logo on a dark blue background.
Viana: Maresca and I share the same ambition – to keep City on top!
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