Enzo Maresca will look to give Ayyoub Bouaddi more opportunities at Manchester City after the Moroccan midfielder came off the bench to shine against Paris Saint-Germain. Bouaddi only has two starts to his name since an £85m summer move from Lille, but impressed against the French champions.
Teenager signed as long-term option
The 19-year-old has been signed as a long-term option after the Blues lost Rodri in summer, but Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez have been preferred for most matches this season. With the team 3-0 down at home to PSG, Bouaddi came on for Rayan Cherki at half time and the switch allowed Fernandez to get further forward.
"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."
More of an option going forward
The nature of City's comeback on Wednesday raised questions over whether Bouaddi is needed in midfield in similar games going forward. While Maresca thought there were other issues at play in the Champions League game, he does now see the teenager as more of an option.
"I don't think that we can be open," he said. "I think that there are games where probably you need to be a little bit more aggressive in the middle but that it doesn’t mean that you need three defensive midfielders, you can also play with offensive midfielders like Rayan or Phil but it depends a little bit on the game plan."
"For this game, I went less physical and more technical with Rayan, but probably against these kind of teams you need to be quite strong especially in the middle because they are very good with Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz, Zaire Emery or Joao Neves. But again I think the first-half problems were for different reasons but for sure Bouaddi, Enzo and Elliot can be a solution in the future."
