Manchester City are close to signing Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, who value the 18-year-old at €100m, about £85m. Personal terms have been agreed for some time and the clubs are working on the fee. If it completes, Bouaddi joins Elliot Anderson, signed from Nottingham Forest last month for £116m, in a midfield that has already lost Bernardo Silva. That is a little over £200m committed to two central midfielders aged 18 and 23, in the first window of a new manager's tenure.
Two accounts of the same day
What the spending means for Rodri depends entirely on which version you read, and both were published on 10 August. In one, Bouaddi's arrival clears the path for Rodri to join Barcelona, and City are all but resigned to selling a 30-year-old with a year left on his contract; Barcelona are confident, and would fund the deal by selling Ferran Torres. In the other, City do not regard the Barcelona talks as active at all, having judged an opening offer worth somewhere around £40m to be derisory, and would like Rodri to sign a new contract.
The two are not quite as far apart as they look. City have been reported since the start of the month as intending to push the Bouaddi deal through regardless of what Rodri decides, and the club's stated preference has consistently been to keep him. What has changed is that the replacement is now nearly in the building. Rodri is due back at the club on Friday after his post-World Cup break, and Barcelona are weighing what to bid next.