Manchester City sign 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi in €100m deal as Omar Marmoush nears Spurs
The Irish Times · Jamie Jackson; David Hytner · 2026-08-26T10:50:23+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Manchester City have signed the 18-year-old midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille in a €100m deal on a busy day of transfer activity for the Premier League club.
City have also agreed to loan Omar Marmoush to Tottenham for the season, with an obligation to buy the forward for an initial £50 million (€43 million), and struck a deal to sell Nico González to Newcastle for £52 million.
Bouaddi has signed a five-year contract after playing for Morocco at the World Cup and continues City’s midfield rebuild. González is poised to become the fourth frontline central midfielder to depart this summer, after Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders. City have added Bouaddi and Elliott Anderson, a £116 million buy from Nottingham Forest.
City are expected to firm up their interest in Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández by making a bid. The west London club value the midfielder at £120 million.
READ MORE
Marmoush is to have a medical at Spurs, who have agreed to pay up to £10 million in add-ons, with half of that guaranteed. Next summer the 27-year-old is to sign a four-year contract with a one-year option.
City are not due to give a sell-on fee to Eintracht Frankfurt, from whom they bought the Egyptian in January 2025, and have agreed a £34 million fee for Palmeiras’s Allan Elias, who is Sávio’s replacement as a wide forward.
Marmoush is following Sávio in leaving City for Spurs, who bought the Brazilian winger in a deal worth £85 million (£75 million up front, plus £10 million later) on Tuesday.
The Spurs manager, Roberto De Zerbi, has been keen to bolster his options at centre forward and Marmoush represents an upgrade on Dominic Solanke and Richarlison, who have struggled for consistency and fitness.
De Zerbi said at the end of July that Spurs had a “bomba” attacking signing lined up, meaning a top-tier player, and Marmoush and Sávio fit the bill. They have taken rather longer to join than he would have liked; he revealed on Tuesday that the negotiations for Sávio started three days after the end of last season. He believes they will be worth the wait.
Spurs have spent £304.5 million this summer on Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Sávio. They have added Martin Dubravka, Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on free transfers.
Chelsea have been offered Emiliano Martínez and are considering making an offer for the goalkeeper. Martínez has told Aston Villa he wants to leave but a move to Juventus collapsed last week after Villa had signed his replacement, Zion Suzuki, from Parma for £30m.
Goalkeeper has been a problematic position for Chelsea in recent seasons, with Robert Sánchez mainly the No 1 but prone to mistakes. Mike Penders, 21, is being lined up to become the first-choice keeper, but the new Chelsea manager, Xabi Alonso, selected Sánchez for Monday’s win against Fulham and two Sánchez errors led to goals.
The availability and offer of Martínez has intrigued Chelsea and they are mulling whether it is too good an opportunity to turn down. The 33-year-old is a vastly experienced serial trophy winner. He won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022 and reached the 2026 final. He also lifted the Europa League with Villa last season and the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2020.
Martínez was not in the squad for Villa’s heavy opening weekend defeat at Brighton. Marco Bizot started in goal, with Suzuki on the bench. Chelsea are in talks with Martínez’s camp about the terms of a deal that would solve both clubs’ problems.
Chelsea have failed to keep a Premier League clean sheet in 17 games – their longest run since August 1991 – and pundits have questioned whether Sánchez is the right goalkeeper to challenge for titles. - Guardian