Manchester City have agreed a deal for Iliman Ndiaye. The club to club agreement with Everton is in place, personal terms are settled, and the medical has been given the green light. The fee is a package worth £65 million, a day before the window shuts.
Everton paid Marseille around £18 million for him in July 2024. Selling at 26 for three and a half times that is the sort of trade a club outside the top six almost never gets to make, and it takes their best attacking player out of the side.
For City it is the sixth major piece of a rebuild that has been mostly demolition. They have sold Rodri to Barcelona, Tijjani Reijnders to Al Qadsiah, Savinho to Tottenham for £75 million plus £10 million, Omar Marmoush to Tottenham on a loan with a £50 million obligation, and Nico González to Newcastle, and released Bernardo Silva. In came Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for €95 million plus add-ons, and now Ndiaye.
Enzo Maresca has won both league games with what is left, 4-1 at Selhurst Park on Thursday with braces for Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland. Ndiaye gives him another player who can start wide and finish in the middle, which is the shape Cherki has been playing in.
The other piece landed overnight. City made their first official approach to Chelsea for Enzo Fernández on Monday evening, having missed an earlier deadline Chelsea set them, and agreed it by Tuesday morning at a reported £125 million. With Ndiaye that is about £190 million of business inside twenty four hours.
Everton drew 1-1 at Bournemouth on Saturday and now need to replace the player who makes them dangerous, in about twenty four hours.