Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester United made a transfer error by pulling out of the race to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi, who joined Manchester City from Lille in an £85m deal and has already begun to showcase his talent.
The 19-year-old midfielder was one of the most sought-after players of the summer after impressing for Lille and Morocco. City, having sold Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez and lost Bernardo Silva on a free transfer, moved to sign Bouaddi along with Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez.
United's £155m Summer Spending
United, managed by Michael Carrick, were also competing for midfielders and brought in Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos for a combined £155m. Ferdinand is concerned that this recruitment could be shown up after watching Bouaddi star off the bench for City against Paris Saint-Germain last week.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: "Did you see when Ayyoub Bouaddi came on? This is why I was talking about him over the last year and during the summer transfer window."
Ferdinand's Verdict on Bouaddi
"He came on and showed PSG that they may have missed out on someone who was on their doorstep when he was playing in France. He turned 19 this month, right? His transfer fee is the same as Santos and Tielemans combined. Manchester United were in for him, 100 per cent, but the fee was just too much."
"Just that little cameo against PSG makes you go, 'oh, I can’t believe we missed out on that. I can’t believe it.' I’m so gutted, so gutted. He’s bad! He’s so calm under pressure."
Ferdinand added: "Man City have got that many games that then can share the load about. Because of his age you can just dip him in and out but sooner rather than later that’s not going to fly with him because he’s an incredible footballer. They’ve got Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez in that midfield as well but this kid could be the best of the three, easily."
Maresca's Praise and What's Next
Bouaddi has been eased into action by City manager Enzo Maresca, who praised him before starting him alongside Mateo Kovacic in their 3-2 win over Ipswich at the weekend.
"Ayyoub, first of all, is a fantastic player," said Maresca. "The good thing about Ayyoub is that when he's on the pitch he's also improving the ones around him and this is what top players do."
"The ones that move around them are better and with Ayyoub the feeling that I have is that all the players around him are better. There are players who playing alongside some players can be better."
Bouaddi will be in contention to start for City when they host AEK Athens in the Champions League on Tuesday night before travelling to face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.
