France beat Morocco 2-0 on Thursday in their World Cup quarter-final meeting in Boston, thereby ending the African nation’s journey at the tournament. What that now means is some of their best players could seal their futures soon.
Ismael Saibari has already secured a transfer to Bayern Munich and Ayyoub Bouaddi might be the next Moroccan to make a big-money transfer to one of the world’s biggest clubs, with interest in his services from the Premier League.
Football Insider has reported that Arsenal and Liverpool are ready to sign Bouaddi from Lille and according to the source, both English giants are ready to give into the French side’s demand of keeping him on loan for another season in spite of a sale.
Lille value Bouaddi at £100 million, Football Insider has added, and it will be interesting to see whether Arsenal or Liverpool are prepared to pay such a lofty sum for the 18-year-old at the cost of not having him available to them from next season.
Liverpool may be ready to splurge big on Bouaddi
Given that Arsenal and Liverpool are believed to be ready to let Lille retain Ayyoub Bouaddi on loan for another season, they might look for more favourable payment terms but there is no denying that £100 million is a massive asking fee for the teenager.
Having said that, it would be surprising if Arsenal are ready to spend so much money on a midfielder. The Gunners already have relatively young and high quality players in their engine room, and focus for the immediate future is on a left winger’s signing.
Liverpool, however, require a lot of depth and quality in midfield and Bouaddi’s attributes would be an ideal fit for the Reds, especially if Andoni Iraola impresses in his maiden season at the club and remains in charge in 2027/28 as well.
Bouaddi’s strong physique and defensive work-rate, coupled with ball carrying and line-breaking passing would make him a solid fit in Liverpool’s double pivot, potentially next to Dominik Szoboszlai, who also has a very high offensive and defensive output.
That said, whether the Reds are prepared to commit as high a sum as £100 million for a player, who will not be joining them…
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