Mohamed Aboutrika has accused Enzo Maresca of wasting Ayyoub Bouaddi, and the Egyptian great didn’t bother dressing it up.
The 19-year-old started Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Brighton and was the first man off, replaced after 55 minutes. It was his fifth start of the season in all competitions, and the Morocco international was left frustrated by the role he had been given.
Aboutrika, a two-time African champion with Egypt in 2006 and 2008 who now works as a pundit for beIN Sports MENA, thinks the problem is a simple one: Man City are asking a natural defensive midfielder to play further up the pitch.
What did Aboutrika say about Bouaddi?
He was blunt. Aboutrika said: “Playing Ayyoub Bouaddi as a number eight or number 10 is like playing Messi in goal. His position is number six. Why change his positioning?”
In his view, the qualities that made such a strong impression at the 2026 World Cup, winning the ball back, distributing it and carrying it forward, are being under-used in the more advanced role Bouaddi has been handed at the Etihad.
It’s worth remembering what sort of player City actually bought. Bouaddi is a big Andres Iniesta fan, but he is a defensive midfielder by trade, and that is the side of his game Aboutrika wants to see.
Did Maresca get the Brighton midfield wrong?
On paper, Saturday gave supporters the midfield they had been asking for: Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez together, a £325m trio. In practice, as we set out after the Brighton defeat, Bouaddi and Fernandez kept charging into the same high spaces and Anderson was left trying to hold back Brighton almost on his own.
Yasin Ayari’s 11th-minute goal settled it. Rayan Cherki came on for Bouaddi after 55 minutes and City looked sharper straight away, which hardly helped the teenager’s case.
Maresca still insisted that starting three physical midfielders was a good idea, with the plan being to freshen things up for the last 20 to 30 minutes. Aboutrika’s point is a different one. Bouaddi spent too much of the afternoon going forward rather than screening the back four, and he paid for it with the first substitution.
Has Ayyoub Bouaddi justified the fee yet?
Not yet. Bouaddi arrived last summer as the most expensive African player in history, a record since taken by Ivory Coast forward Yan Diomande’s move to Real Madrid. The Senlis-born midfielder has two assists from nine appearances so far, a modest return for a player who already has 10 caps for Morocco.
His best moments have come in Europe. He started the 2-0 win at Porto, after which Maresca said he “was never confused”, then came on at half-time against Paris Saint-Germain and set up an Erling Haaland goal.
Maresca’s own lesson from the PSG night was that “against these teams you need to be quite strong in the middle”. That is the job Bouaddi was signed to do.
Verdict: let Bouaddi be a six
Aboutrika is right, and the fix isn’t complicated. Sitting beside Anderson in a double pivot, Bouaddi can do the dirty work he is good at, while Cherki and Phil Foden take on the creative jobs. That is exactly how we would line City up in our predicted XI for RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
As an eight or a 10, he is a 19-year-old trying to be someone else in a side that has just lost two league games running. As a six, he might yet look like the record signing City thought they were getting.
