How Ayyoub Bouaddi compares to Enzo Fernandez as £85m Man City transfer edges closer

As one Manchester City midfield era comes to an end, another is just about to begin.

The Sky Blues have just waved goodbye to the long-serving Rodri, who – having won everything that there is to win in Manchester – has joined Barcelona in a £65m deal, as confirmed by Man City in an emotional statement.

The 2024 Ballon d'Or winner is not the only former Pep Guardiola disciple to pack their bags, as Tijjani Reijnders has made the move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah in a surprise £51m move, and City are said to be targeting two reinforcements for their departing duo.

An £85m move for Lille's Ayyoub Bouaddi is in the works – confirmed by the French club's head coach – and the Moroccan is now simply waiting for permission to travel for his medical.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez remains of interest to former boss Enzo Maresca, even though Man City missed a Friday 5pm deadline set by the Blues to make their £120m approach last week.

Here, FootballWhispers takes a look at how Bouaddi and Fernandez compare from a statistical standpoint, using league data from the 2025-26 seasons.

Enzo Fernandez vs. Ayyoub Bouaddi: How do they compare?

To caveat Bouaddi playing almost 800 fewer minutes than Fernandez in the 2025-26 domestic campaign, per 90 stats take centre stage, although the Argentina international still triumphs as far as the most important midfield metric is concerned.

Indeed, Fernandez completed just over 86% of his Premier League passes successfully last season, compared to Bouaddi's 84.7% success rate for Les Dogues, and the Moroccan also registered just under 17 fewer passes per game than his South American counterpart.

However, Bouaddi trumps his Chelsea colleague on the duelling front, as he contested 9.7 duels per 90 compared to Fernandez's 8.94 and registered a far superior success rate, winning 5.48 per 90 while the Premier League maestro won just under four in the same timeframe.

Bouaddi's superior duelling statistics also means that his dribbling and possession numbers carry little shock value; the teenager completed 1.35 successful dribbles per 90 in Ligue 1 last season, compared to 0.37 for Fernandez in the Premier League, in addition to being dispossessed 1.04 times while Fernandez was robbed of possession on 1.24 occasions.

The former Benfica man can proudly boast the better numbers in an attacking sense though, scoring 0.29 goals and providing 0.12 assists per 90 minutes, while Bouaddi posted 0.00 in the former category and 0.04 in the latter.

Fernandez had just over two shots per 90 minutes in the top flight last season, in addition to 0.63 through balls and 0.35 big chances created per game – in contrast, Bouaddi's shots total sits at just 0.62, his through balls at 0.04, and his big chances created at a mere 0.12, highlighting his lack of creativity compared to the Argentine.

As Fernandez and Bouaddi evidently differ in specialities, it is easy to see why Man City are targeting both for a productive midfield partnership – even at an extortionate cost – rather than adopting a one-and-done approach.