Manchester City\u2019s 3-0 loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield has sharpened the focus on a midfield reshuffle, with Ayyoub Bouaddi emerging as a central target.<\/p>\n
City have already turned down two Barcelona bids, yet the La Liga champions could return with an improved offer for the 2026 World Cup Golden Ball winner. At the same time, Reijnders is said to be close to a move to Al Qadsiah of the Saudi Pro League, adding to the sense that movement is coming in midfield.<\/p>\n
Bouaddi is only one of the names now under consideration. Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, Chelsea\u2019s divisive vice-captain, is also on the list, and there is reported confidence that City could bring in both players quickly. The club are said to be closing in on Bouaddi, whose rise has drawn attention well beyond Lille.<\/p>\n
Davide Ancelotti, in charge of Lille since the start of June, has already seen enough to form a strong view of the teenager\u2019s ceiling. Bouaddi impressed early in Morocco\u2019s World Cup run and is valued at $115 million by the Ligue 1 side. He has been linked with major moves in recent windows, and City were tracking him before the loss of Rodri became a likely problem.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti was emphatic about the player\u2019s potential, saying Bouaddi is \u201cgoing to be one of the best midfielders in Europe for the next 10 years,\u201d while confirming that talks with City are ongoing.<\/p>\n
He also left room for hope that Lille can retain him. \u201cOf course, there are negotiations,\u201d Ancelotti said after Lille\u2019s preseason draw with Everton on Sunday. \u201cThere is interest from so many clubs. He is a really, really good player, and I hope that he is going to stay with us!\u201d<\/p>\n
City want any additions in place quickly. After the Community Shield, Maresca said: \u201cHe’s still a Lille player, but any new player, for sure, [the sooner] they arrive it\u2019s better, because we are going to start the Premier League in one week, and if they are going to work with us as soon as possible, it\u2019s better because they can understand the way we want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
City begin their campaign at home to Bournemouth next Sunday. The Shield loss also exposed issues in midfield, with Mateo Kova\u010di\u0107 preferred to Nico Gonz\u00e1lez and struggling against Arsenal\u2019s engine room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City\u2019s Shield defeat sharpened the focus on Ayyoub Bouaddi and a coming midfield reshuffle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2022,238,1977,1397],"tags":[1162,59,182],"class_list":["post-18541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-shield","category-manchester-city","category-player-analysis","category-transfer-news","tag-analytics","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}