Romano: Tijjani Reijnders to Manchester City, here we go!
Verbal agreement in place for Dutch midfielder to join Manchester City.
Deal almost done since yesterday as revealed and now being finalized for package worth around €70m.
Personal terms sealed days ago and formal steps to follow.
The Athletic:
Manchester City have reached an agreement worth €55million (£46.3m) plus add-ons with Milan to sign midfielder Tijjani Reijnders.
The Athletic reported earlier in May that City had contacted Milan to express an interest in signing the 26-year-old, who has agreed a five-year deal at the Etihad.
Talks have remained ongoing with a club-to-club agreement now reached for Reijnders to join Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Netherlands international only recently renewed his contract at the Serie A side through to 2030.
Reijnders enjoyed an impressive season for Milan, scoring 15 goals in all competitions and being voted Serie A midfielder of the year.
Kevin De Bruyne’s exit leaves City with a hole to fill in midfield even after they bolstered their options in the winter transfer window with the signing of Nico Gonzalez from Porto.
They will be helped by the return of Rodri, the Ballon d’Or winner, who made his comeback from a lengthy anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury layoff for the penultimate game of the Premier League campaign.
Reijnders joined Milan from AZ in 2023 and signed a new deal that runs through to 2030 in March.
He has been capped 22 times by the Netherlands since making his debut in 2023 and was part of the side that reached the semi-finals of the 2024 European Championship.
'Reijnders has blend of characteristics to excite City fans'
Analysis by Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee
Watching Reijnders play, you have to conclude that he would look right at home in City’s midfield.
As much as he has learned from watching Kevin De Bruyne, his playing style is more of a cross between Bernardo Silva’s and that of Ilkay Gundogan.
Reijnders, although not especially tenacious defensively, does have an exciting blend of characteristics on the ball that should excite City fans.
He is a player capable of affecting a game in all areas of the pitch: first of all, he is very comfortable receiving from his goalkeeper, a staple of City’s build-up, and he is usually the deepest Milan midfielder ready to get on the ball, rather than a supplement to a holding midfielder.
Against particularly high-pressing teams, City may use Gundogan, for example, to drop deep and help out Rodri, but then expect him to also move up the pitch with the play, even contributing in the final third, and this is something that Reijnders does a lot of.
As a player who can dictate the tempo of a game via a few different methods — short, quick passes, carrying or off-the-ball runs — it makes him an ideal candidate to contribute to City’s game all over midfield.