Manchester City have signed midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille in an £85.6m deal, making the Morocco international the Premier League's most expensive teenager as Enzo Maresca continues to reshape City's engine room.
The 18-year-old joins on a five-year contract, subject to international clearance, with City paying £81.4m upfront plus £4.2m in add-ons. The move follows City's sales of Rodri to Barcelona for £65m and Tijjani Reijnders to Al-Qadsiah for £52m, both central midfielders whose departures created the space and the funds for Bouaddi's arrival.
Bouaddi impressed at this summer's World Cup, starting five of Morocco's six matches as the team reached the quarter-finals, building on a season in which he had already established himself as a key figure in Lille's Ligue 1 side.
"This is a very special day for me and my family. 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," Bouaddi said.
"I have spent most of my life working hard to become the best player I can be and reach the top of the game.
"I've watched City for many years, and I love their style of play. City always try and play quality football. And they have shown they are winners — this club feels like it's built to win."
Discussing what drew him to the move, he said the conversations with the club had been about more than the present moment.
"We discussed a lot of things and the future also because this is why I'm here — for the future," he said in his first interview as a City player. "We know that in the great club we need to win. We are going to see what's going to happen.
"What's important is that I'm going to give 100%, be always here for the team and then it's the future. I think here the most important thing is to win. In a big club you need to win and this is all that we are going to do. We are going to give 100% to achieve all of our goals."
Born in France, Bouaddi grew up watching City's rise under Pep Guardiola and said the chance to join the club he idolised as a teenager was not lost on him.
"I grew up with Manchester City under Guardiola — when he arrived and what he did was just amazing. But then we know that City is one of the greatest clubs in the world with the best players, best team, the campus. Everything is done to perform here and do the best. I think the Premier League is the most attractive and most competitive championship in the world.
"The best championship in the world. So every player dreams to play in the Premier League and I hope I am going to play in the Premier League very soon, as soon as possible," he said.