Born in Uccle, Belgium, Boyata started his career in the youth team at Brussels before joining Manchester City in 2006.

[7] Boyata made his first team debut against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup third round on 2 January 2010, playing centre-back and helping his side to a 1–0 win at the Riverside Stadium.

[8] His league debut was as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers nine days later, replacing Martin Petrov in the 86th minute of a 4–1 home win.

Early in the 2010–11 season he scored the second goal in the Europa League play-off match against FC Timişoara on 26 August, his first for the club.

[10] He was shown a red card just five minutes into a 3–0 home loss against Arsenal on 24 October, for fouling Marouane Chamakh while being the last man before goal.

[12] After that, Boyata spent a large part of the next two seasons away on loan, first at fellow Premier League club Bolton Wanderers and then in the Netherlands with FC Twente.

On 31 August 2012, Boyata left Manchester City to join Dutch Eredivisie club FC Twente on a short-term loan.

[18] Boyata made his first Manchester City appearance in over two years when he started in a League Cup third round match versus Wigan Athletic on 24 September 2013.

He helped his side keep a clean sheet in a 5–0 win, and came close to opening the scoring himself in the first half with a header that was tipped over the bar by the Wigan goalkeeper.

[23] On 10 August, Boyata played the full 90 minutes as City opened the season with a 3–0 defeat to Arsenal in the 2014 FA Community Shield.

[28] Boyata was singled out for criticism for his performances, notably where he gave away a penalty with a "clumsy" foul during a 2–1 defeat away at Aberdeen,[29] and also for some of the goals conceded during Celtic's run in the UEFA Europa League.

[38][39] He made his competitive debut on 14 September on the fourth matchday of the domestic league in a 2–1 loss to Mainz 05, coming on as a late substitute for Javairô Dilrosun.

[48] He didn't play against Kazakhstan, but made his debut against Austria on 10 October 2010, coming on as a half time substitute for Toby Alderweireld in a 4–4 draw.

[56] Boyata is from Uccle, a suburb of Brussels[57] and is known to have a good relationship with former Manchester City and Belgium team-mate Vincent Kompany.