Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester United missed a golden opportunity by withdrawing from the race to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi during the summer transfer window. Bouaddi completed an £85 million ($115.3 million) move to Manchester City from Lille and has already begun showcasing his abilities on the field.
The 19-year-old midfielder was among the most coveted players of the summer after turning heads for both Lille and Morocco. Following the departures of Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico González, and the free transfer loss of Bernardo Silva, City invested heavily to bring in Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernández.
City and United were rivals in the hunt for midfield reinforcements, with Michael Carrick's side securing Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos for a combined £155 million (around $207.3 million). Ferdinand is concerned that United's recruitment decisions could be exposed after witnessing Bouaddi impress as a substitute for City against Paris Saint-Germain last week, via The Mirror.
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"Did you see when Ayyoub Bouaddi came on? This is why I was talking about him over the last year and during the summer transfer window," Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
"He came on and showed PSG that they may have missed out on someone who was on their doorstep when he was playing in France. He turned 19 this month, right? His transfer fee is the same as Santos and Tielemans combined. Manchester United were in for him, 100 percent, but the fee was just too much.
"Just that little cameo against PSG makes you go, 'Oh, I can't believe we missed out on that. I can't believe it.' I'm so gutted, so gutted. He's bad! He's so calm under pressure.
"Man City have got that many games that then can share the load about. Because of his age you can just dip him in and out but sooner rather than later that's not going to fly with him because he's an incredible footballer. They've got Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernández in that midfield as well, but this kid could be the best of the three, easily."
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Bouaddi has been carefully introduced by City manager Enzo Maresca, who heaped praise on the youngster before handing him a starting berth alongside Mateo Kovačić in their 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town at the weekend.
"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."
Bouaddi will be pushing for a starting role when City welcome AEK Athens in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, before the team makes the trip to face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.