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Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez (Picture: Getty) Manchester City are set to bolster Enzo Maresca’s midfield options after agreeing a deal worth £86m for Lille star Ayyoub Bouaddi. Maresca urged his bosses at the Etihad Stadium to get busy during the summer transfer window after Man City’s Community Shield defeat to Arsenal. Manchester City spend £116m to sign England’s Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest but Maresca was keen for further additions after Rodri’s £65m move to Barcelona. Bouaddi attracted interest from a number of European giants before the World Cup and did his reputation no harm during the tournament, helping Morocco reach the quarter-finals before they were knocked out by France. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea were all said to be interested in Bouaddi, who made just shy of 100 appearances for French side Lille. But Man City have won the race to sign the highly-rated 18-year-old after agreeing a stunning deal worth €95m (£81.4m) plus €5m in potential add-ons. Despite strengthening Maresca’s midfield with an £86m player, Manchester City remain interested in signing Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea, according to The Guardian. Incoming Man City signing Ayyoub Bouaddi (Picture: Getty) Fernandez made it clear he wanted to leave Stamford Bridge earlier in the summer but a dream move to Real Madrid failed to materalise. The Argentina World Cup finalist is also interested in a move to Man City, where he would reunite with ex-Chelsea boss Maresca. But Chelsea want an eye-watering £120m for Fernandez and Man City value him ‘at a lower figure’. Man City beat Bournemouth on the opening weekend (Picture: Getty) Manchester City’s midfield looked shaky in their Premier League opener against Bournemouth but Maresca’s side came from behind to clinch a late 2-1 win. Marcus Tavernier gave Bournemouth a first-half lead and looked set to have earned the Cherries an opening-day win before Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol scored late goals for City. Man City matchwinner Gvardiol said: ‘Everyone is proud in the moment, it’s the opening game of the season and we know how important it is, especially with all the changes we’ve had in the previous weeks. ‘We need to enjoy this, we deserve it and I’m happy with the three points.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
Aston Villa captain John McGinn expressed his anger after his side suffered a bruising 4-0 defeat to Brighton at the Amex Stadium. The post Aston Villa ‘angry and disappointed’ after Brighton hammering, says captain McGinn appeared first on SoccerNews.
Elliot Anderson suffered an injury during Man City’s win over Bournemouth (Photo: Getty) Enzo Maresca has given an update on Elliot Anderson after he came off injured during Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday. After being humiliated by Arsenal on his debut in the Community Shield last week, Maresca was on course to lose his first Premier League match since replacing Pep Guardiola in the City dugout. Marcus Tavernier gave Bournemouth a shock lead at the Etihad, with City struggling to get to grips with Maresca’s tactics, which included defender Marc Guehi bizarrely playing in midfield. But it was Guehi who got the Citizens back in the game, equalising late on before Joško Gvardiol scored in injury-time to snatch the three points for the home side. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. But there was bad news for Maresca, as summer signing Anderson went down on the pitch during the second-half, feeling his hamstring after a collision with Alex Scott. The midfielder, who started every game bar one for England at the World Cup, was able to get to his feet but was quickly substituted for Mateo Kovacic. The sight of Anderson limping off the pitch in his first league game since his record-breaking £116million transfer from Nottingham Forest, is not one City fans wanted to see. Anderson was immediately subbed off for Mateo Kovacic (Photo: Getty) But Maresca has allayed fears of any painful injury, revealing Anderson was just suffering from cramp as a result of not having a proper pre-season following the World Cup. ‘I think it was cramp,’ The Italian told reporters after full-time. ‘We still have four or five players that are not 100 per cent and he is one of them.’ He later added in his post-match press conference: ‘Today we had four or five players that arrived very late, 10 days ago, so for them it’s almost still pre-season. Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol scored to secure Enzo Maresca’s first Man City win (Photo: Getty) ‘Erling [Haaland] is one, Elliot, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, so it’s complicated. But they’ve done a huge effort to help.’ There’s a quick turnaround to City’s next game away to Crystal Palace on Friday night. Asked about Andersons performance against Bournemouth, Maresca added: ‘He was very good. Elliot was very good on the ball, very good off the ball. ‘I have a good feeling with Elliot that he’s going to be better and better. Again, for him this was like pre-season. He arrived 10 days ago but the feeling with him is that he’s going to be very good for this club in the future.’ City’s midfield is being completely rebuilt this season, with Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders having departed, while shortly before kick-off it was reported that City have agreed an £85.6m deal to sign Lille teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
Liverpool are hoping to sign Bradley Barcola from PSG before the summer transfer window closes. According to Ben Jacobs, they are expected to submit a formal offer for the 23-year-old international soon, and a lucrative offer in the same range as what is being paid for players like Morgan Rogers and Yan Diomande could be […] The post Journalist claims Liverpool will ‘place a formal bid’ for 23-year-old before deadline appeared first on CaughtOffside.
MATT BARLOW: Brentford simply bullied Spurs. They might easily have scored more, missed a penalty and in Mamadou Sangare had the best of the summer signings.
West Ham United have been heavily criticised after a dire start to life in the Championship so far this season. The Hammers drew their opening game with Burnley and then suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Charlton Athletic yesterday. This is surely going to lead to questions over the future of manager Nuno […] The post Pundit hints West Ham may need to sack Nuno after “rock bottom” claim appeared first on CaughtOffside.
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