Latest news with #AyyoubBouaddi
Morocco World
2 days ago
- Sport
- Morocco World
AC Milan Step Up Interest in Lille Youngster Ayyoub Bouaddi
AC Milan are weighing up a move for Lille's teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, with new head coach Massimiliano Allegri understood to be a major admirer, according to Gianluca Di Marzio. Bouaddi has enjoyed a breakout season in Ligue 1, making 24 appearances in the French top flight and nine more in the Champions League. He grabbed headlines after starting Lille's group-stage win over Real Madrid – on the same day he turned 17. Milan have been monitoring the French-Moroccan for some time, but this summer could finally see the club make a formal approach. Allegri is keen to reshape the midfield, especially with Tijjani Reijnders expected to join Manchester City, and sees Bouaddi as a player with both immediate impact and long-term potential. Sporting director Igli Tare is reportedly preparing to open talks, with Milan hoping to move quickly before other clubs enter the race. Bouaddi has a contract with Lille until 2027, so any deal won't come cheap. The midfielder came through the ranks at AFC Creil before joining Lille's academy in 2021. Since then, he's risen through the system, featured for France at every youth level up to U21, and built a reputation as one of the most promising talents in Europe. Milan see him as a smart investment – someone with composure, technical ability, and the maturity to handle top-level football despite his age. Tags: AC MilanAyyoub Bouaddi
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ligue 1's two-faced truth: European success is masking financial ruin
If it is results that count, tout va bien for Ligue 1. Having so far accrued its second-highest total of Uefa ranking points in a single campaign, the 'league of talents' remains on course to register its best season in Europe since the 1990s, when Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and others regularly featured in the latter stages of Uefa competitions. A transformed, exuberant if still-not-quite-perfect PSG hope to go one better than the Thomas Tuchel side who lost the 2020 Champions League final to Bayern Munich, and Lyon gave Manchester United an almighty scare in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Brest and Lille defied the odds by qualifying for the knockout stage of the Champions League, beating teams such as PSV, Atlético Madrid and the holders, Real Madrid, on the way. The conveyor belt of young talent shows no sign of slowing, the 17-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi of Lille and PSG's Désiré Doué the latest French academy products to break through on the biggest of stages. However, those results tell only part of a much bleaker story, which can be summed up in four words. French football is broke. Not facing financial challenges or in need of fresh investment. Broke. Despite the €1.5bn (£1.28bn) windfall generated by the sale of 13% of its media rights subsidiary to the US private equity fund CVC Capital, and despite a net surplus of €830m in player sales last season, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) lost a combined quarter of a billion euros in 2023-24. It will get worse. The French regulator, the DNCG, fears that Ligue 1's operating loss will reach €1.2bn this time round. In this, Qatar-funded PSG is l'arbre qui cache la forêt, the tree which hides the forest. Wherever else one looks, with the possible exception of Rennes, Monaco and Marseille, the situation is dire, with at least three Ligue 1 clubs – Angers, Le Havre and Montpellier are the names most often mentioned – facing such difficulties that they could go bankrupt before the season is over. John Textor's Lyon, who accumulated losses of €117m over the first six months of the 2024-25 season, are not faring much better. Lyon will learn only on 31 May whether they have done enough to convince the French regulator to suspend the administrative relegation to the second tier it ordered last November. The French football federation president, Philippe Diallo, a man not prone to exaggeration, has talked of a crisis which is 'not temporary, but structural'. He told the French radio station RTL: 'For several decades professional football has relied on a growth in broadcasting rights and a very active transfer market. These two characteristics are now being questioned. Broadcasting rights are on a downward trend and the transfer market has reached a ceiling.' Diallo was painting too rosy a picture. The ceiling he referred to has already moved downwards. In the last transfer window, when Ligue 1 sold a record €357m worth of players, cash-strapped clubs parted with players they wanted to hang on to for a while longer, such as the Reims vice-captain Emmanuel Agbadou, now at Wolves, or the Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov, signed by Manchester City. Foreign buyers knew it and drove down the prices; not only did the selling clubs lose core talents they intended to build their future on, but they did so at a discounted price, digging the hole a bit deeper in their efforts to climb out of it. As to media rights, on which Ligue 1 clubs primarily rely for their survival, Diallo's 'downward trend' was a euphemistic way to describe a scene of carnage since the collapse of Mediapro four years ago. The dream of securing more than €1bn of revenue a year from broadcasting deals, which many Ligue 1 clubs had foolishly integrated in their financial projections, is over. The LFP just about managed to cobble together a deal with Dazn for this season, which was supposed to bring in an estimated €400m a year from the British streaming platform until 2029, to which another €100m would be added by the sale of the rights to one marquee game a weekend to beIN Sport. But Dazn too is losing money, a lot of it. It is some way off the one million subscribers it needed to break even in France. Piracy is rife, as fans balk at paying €85 per month if they wish to see every match played by their club in France and Europe, for which Ligue 1's historical partner, Canal+, owns the rights. Dazn claims its losses, estimated to be about €200m-€250m, are the consequence of the league having 'fraudulently' misrepresented its offer. The parties are involved in a legal wrangle which took an unexpected and potentially disastrous turn last week, when Ligue 1 club presidents met in Paris and cut short their agreement with the broadcaster; which is exactly what the broadcaster has threatened to do if LFP did not pay compensation. Dazn is understood to have refused the package offered by the league, with another tranche of €70m due at the end of April. The problem is that, with Dazn out of the picture, and unless LFP has a genius plan which no one has been made aware of, no other broadcaster seems ready and willing to take its place – unless the league agreed to bring its price down, which it cannot afford to do. Less than a year ago Bordeaux, former Uefa Cup finalists and winners of their sixth French title in 2009, were declared bankrupt and demoted to the fourth tier. It was hoped at the time that they were an outlier, victims of catastrophic mismanagement. They were, to a point; but they were also the canary in the coalmine, more fragile than the rest, and therefore likely to be the first to be hit by the 'structural crisis' Diallo talked about. It is unfortunately probable that they will not be the last.
Morocco World
13-03-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
Ayyoub Bouaddi Still Torn Between France and Morocco
Lille's starlet Ayyoub Bouaddi is keeping France and Morocco guessing as he delays his international choice. The 17-year-old midfield prodigy, who's dazzled in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, is apparently in no rush to pick a side despite intense pressure from both football federations. According to L'Équipe, Bouaddi is determined to make up his mind and is unfazed by outside pressure from Morocco and France. Morocco has recently convinced budding talents like Chemsdine Talbi, Brahim Rabbaj, and Elisse Ben Seghir to play for the Atlas Lions. Bouaddi carved his name into football history books when he became one of the youngest players to step onto the Champions League stage, squaring off against Real Madrid on his 17th birthday. In Ligue 1, he's clocked 29 appearances for LOSC, racking up two assists and showing flashes of top technical brilliance. His contract ties him to the club until 2027, but his international future remains a mystery. Bouaddi started strong in yesterday's Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund. Despite his tireless running to intercept the ball in midfield, a few sloppy passes crept into his game. In the 65th minute, Lille saw their dreams for Champions League glory crash and burn after Maximilian Beier scored the second goal for Dortmund.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ayyoub Bouaddi yet to make decision on international future
Ayyoub Bouaddi (17) is one of the breakthrough stars of the current Ligue 1 campaign. At the age of just 17, he has made 31 appearances in all competitions, including eight in the UEFA Champions League, establishing himself as a key member of a Lille OSC side that are flying high both domestically and in Europe. His performances, naturally, have led to questions about his international future. Bouaddi has featured for France fro U16 to U21 level. He has made two appearances for the latter age group with his debut coming in the last international break last November. However, there is no guarantee that he will feature for Les Bleus going forward. The midfielder is also eligible to represent Morocco, who are attempting to convince the player to opt for them. According to a report from , Bouaddi has yet to make a decision on his international future, nor is he in a rush to do so. The France U21 international will take the decision alone, at a later date, and without being influenced, report the publication. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
