Manchester City teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi reveals Andres Iniesta inspired his rise

Ayyoub Bouaddi says Andres Iniesta was the footballer who inspired him most as a child, with the Manchester City midfielder recalling how he searched YouTube every day for clips of the former Barcelona star.

The 18-year-old French midfielder made the admission during an appearance on a Manchester City podcast, explaining that he grew up watching compilations of Iniesta’s dribbling rather than full matches.

“If I had to choose one player I watched, I would choose Andres Iniesta,” Bouaddi said. “I did not watch many of his matches, but what I saw was amazing. I grew up in the generation of YouTube video compilations and, when I was a child, I searched for Iniesta’s dribbling clips every day.”

Bouaddi’s admiration for Iniesta reflects the qualities that made the former Spain international distinctive. Iniesta had an ability to make technically difficult actions appear simple, from controlling the ball and directing it into space to turning in tight areas and changing the tempo of an attack.

His trademark dribbles, in which he would move the ball between an opponent’s legs before accelerating away in the opposite direction, also became a defining part of his game.

Bouaddi has begun to show glimpses of a similar technical quality, although there remain clear differences between the two players. His performances at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, particularly in Morocco’s opening match against Brazil, brought him to global attention.

Despite being under 18, Bouaddi controlled the midfield tempo, imposed himself against considerably more experienced opponents and displayed outstanding technical ability.

Manchester City were sufficiently convinced by what they saw at the tournament to pay close to €100m to sign him, moving ahead of a number of Europe’s leading clubs.

However, Bouaddi had already attracted attention during his time with Lille. At 16 years and three days, he became the youngest player to appear in a men’s European club competition.

He later produced another important performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League at the age of 17. Bouaddi played the full 90 minutes in midfield as Lille won 1-0, in a match that also featured Camavinga, Tchouameni, Valverde and Bellingham from the start, with Modric and Arda Guler introduced later.

The teenager still has a considerable distance to travel before the childhood YouTube clips of Iniesta can be meaningfully compared with his own career or with some of Spain’s leading midfielders.

Bouaddi must continue developing his individual footballing identity and prove that he can reproduce his talent consistently at the highest level of competition.