Ayyoub Bouaddi has won eight caps for Morocco. Olivier Giroud knows a prodigious talent when he sees one. "I played with Kylian Mbappe when he was 18," the Lille striker said. "He was so mature for his age and I have the same feeling with Ayyoub." It is a bold statement. But the teenage Moroccan's rise to prominence is nothing new, in the words of another club insider. The manner in which the midfielder impressed at the World Cup did not come as a surprise to anyone in Creil, either, where the 18-year-old grew up in northern France. "No one is shocked here," said his former coach Sofiane Khair. "For us, it's logical."

Now, Bouaddi is on his way to the Premier League, with Manchester City agreeing a deal worth 100m euros (£86m) in principle to sign him from Lille. Bouaddi is not just in demand at club level - Morocco and France also both desperately wanted him. Giroud, a World Cup winner, was in his ear, "teasing him the whole year regarding picking France". Yet Bouaddi opted against it. Bouaddi may have represented Les Bleus throughout the youth age groups, but he has always been immensely proud of his family's roots. Explaining his ultimate decision to declare for Morocco, rather than the country of his birth, Bouaddi uploaded an old photograph on Instagram. It captured the then 10-year-old in a Morocco shirt as he watched on from the stands at the 2018 World Cup. "I am aware of the privilege I have to defend these colours and I will give everything to best represent my country," he vowed.

Bouaddi certainly backed up those words as Morocco became the first African nation to reach successive World Cup quarter-finals. "Against players like Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta and Bruno Guimaraes, he showed not just quality but personality - a kind of positive arrogance," former Morocco international Hassan Kachloul told BBC Sport. "He had confidence, a great aura and a strong presence on the pitch. He thrives in that environment."

However, to those who know Bouaddi best, such as former Creil coach Armand Doue, his performances were nothing out of the ordinary. "He does this kind of match every weekend on the pitches of Ligue 1," he said. Bouaddi's ability to step up in such fashion has been a constant throughout his burgeoning career. The platform may have been even greater at the World Cup, but the unfazed teenager has relished competing against older players for much of his life. He became the youngest footballer to ever play for Lille when he made his senior debut against KI just a few days after turning 16 in 2023. He was serenaded by those inside the Stade Pierre-Mauroy after helping Lille defeat Real Madrid in the Champions League on his 17th birthday. He then broke a record held by Eden Hazard after making 50 Ligue 1 appearances for Lille at the age of just 18.

It is already quite a CV but what has struck Giroud, in particular, is Bouaddi's willingness to take advice on board. His "perfect team-mate" knows he is far from the finished article. "He's a proper box-to-box player, but he needs to improve some things, like his finishing," Giroud said. Moroccan football journalist Amine el Amri tells BBC Sport the midfielder has the potential to "be one of the best midfielders ever in the game". "He has such talent but he has to keep his cool and his feet on the ground. You can't be a star if you don't work hard enough," he said. "At first glance, he reminds you a lot of [former Spain and Barcelona midfielder] Sergio Busquets. He is very tall but also not very muscular. Normally you would get players with muscles in the number six or eight position.

"What he does best is keep his cool when he has the ball and when he is pressing. He doesn't commit a lot of fouls, which is what made Busquets a complete midfielder." Ayyoub Bouaddi with Armand Diop, his former coach at Creil. Bouaddi's thirst to improve is a recurring theme and Diop describes him as "a player who always questions himself because he is a perfectionist". This trait also quickly struck coach Mickael Delestrez when Bouaddi made the jump to Lille's under-17s at the age of 15. "He's one of those boys who, during his first game playing up an age group, would ask, 'What do you expect from me?'" he said.

"His reflective nature leads to him constantly questioning his game - what could he have done better or what should he have done differently? He possesses this analytical ability that allows him to continually challenge himself." The same is true of his approach to life away from the pitch. Bouaddi has been studying for a mathematics degree in his spare time and previously won an oratory competition after delivering a speech at Elysee Palace.

He was always a little different. Coach Khair knows that only too well after seeing Bouaddi take some of his first steps in the game at Creil. "Ayyoub didn't have a PlayStation or a Nintendo DS," he said. "When he wasn't playing, he stayed at home reading books or doing his homework. He never had fast food, either. When we went to tournaments, he was the only kid who did not eat burgers or pizza. He's the same now as he was when he was 10."

Additional reporting by Alex Bysouth

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