How Tijjani Reijnders Elevates Manchester City

The Dutch midfielder is expected to undergo a medical on Sunday, after the Netherlands play on Saturday, and be involved in the Club World Cup. It’s reported to be a €55M fixed fee plus bonuses, according to David Ornstein. Manchester City have finally got their successor to Ilkay Gundogan, who brings some different qualities to the team.

Born in Zwolle, Reijnders began his career with local club PEC Zwolle and later joined FC Twente's youth team. Staying with them until the U17s before getting released. Played one year for CSV ‘28 and then returned to PEC Zwolle, making one appearance for the Eredivisie first team (17/18).

At the time (2017), he was working at an Aldi supermarket and training with Zwolle, training with AZ U21s, and then progressing to train with the first team in 2018. Spent January to June (2020) on loan at RKC Waalwijk, battling relegation in the Eredivisie.

For the 20/21 season, Reijnders was twenty years old, and this was when his career in the AZ first team, starting matches, began. Six league starts that season, eleven the following, and by the end of the 22/23 season, he started thirty-four Eredivisie matches. So, it took Reijnders until he was 24 to start more than 15 league matches in the Eredivisie top division. It’s been quite a long journey for him.

Three goals and six assists that season, Reijnders impressed enough to earn himself a move to Milan in Serie A. Has started 30+ league matches for them in each of the last two seasons and been a key part of their midfield.

In the Serie A this season, Reijnder was voted the best midfielder. Compared to other midfielders in the league, he scored the second-most goals (10), led in progressive carries (111), and made the fifth-most progressive passes (230).

It wasn’t until 2023 that Reijnders got his first call-up to the Dutch National team, choosing to represent his birth country, although he was eligible to represent Indonesia through his mothers’s lineage. His brother Eliano, also a professional footballer for PEC Zwolle, does represent Indonesia.

There has been some discussion around the age of Tijjani Reijnders, but instead, you should be looking at the minutes he's played. Similar to the signing of Omar Marmoush, he's a late bloomer on the pitch and with playing the top-end minutes. Next season, Tijjani Reijnders will enter the season being 27 years old. As it stands, he's played 19,414 total league minutes. Although 7,974 of those are for Jong AZ in the 2. Eerste Divisie.

So, only considering AZ and Milan in the league, Tijjani Reijnders has played 11,440 minutes. If we're only talking about minutes in Europe's Top 5 Leagues, then it's 5,768.

Reijnders has started 30+ league matches in the last three seasons, so he's more than capable of handling the top-level minutes and being available.

Now, here are some comparisons to other midfielders heading into their season at 27 years old.

• Ilkay Gundogan (13,617)

• Bruno Guimaraes (17,763)

• Bruno Fernandes (22,962)

• Youri Tielemans (27,800) 

In a recent interview, Reijnders mentioned this as a reason he could go on to have a longer career. Below is a graphic comparing the total 90s completed by midfielders in the league compared to him. Tielemans played lots of minutes from an early age, already hitting 2,000+ minutes at 16 in the Belgian Pro League. Rice is a year younger and already 50+ 90s ahead of Reijnders. When you bear in mind how few minutes he’s played in one of Europe’s T5 leagues, it’s a good indication of having a long career.

In his current form, he's one of the best midfielders in the world, not only for his technical skill or threat in the box but for the variety of roles he can play in the midfield. Capable as a deep-lying playmaker, number ten, and as a box-to-box midfielder. If Manchester City wants a player to come in and right away deliver on what Gundogan was at his best, then Reijnders is the player to go get.

The quality of his passes, intelligent ball distribution, and willingness to play incisive through passes make him a creative player in midfield. The close control and dribbling ability to move through tight spaces centrally, as well as to progress his team through the thirds. Reijnders, 26, broke the opposition’s defensive line with a pass more times (47) than any other player in Serie A this season. He broke two lines of opposition pressure with a single pass 26 times – the third most in the Italian top flight of non-defenders. Below is a look at those defensive line-breaking passes from Reijnders this season.

Low volume when it comes to defensive actions, more so a player who pounces on loose touches and is proactive in making interceptions than he is in making tackles. In the Serie A this season, he made the 4th most interceptions of any midfielder (38). However, his 0.8 tackles per 90 was the lowest of all midfielders in the league over 1,000 minutes. 3.6 possession regains per 90 among the lowest. He’s not a dominant ball-winning midfielder, so you need to pair him with others who are. Like Rodri and Nico Gonzalez. For specific matches, you might see Rodri-Nico picked for that point, to ensure you’ve got that bite in the challenges that Reijnders lacks.

Important to factor in how Milan play, which is not pressing high up the pitch, and being aggressive in the counter-press. It’s not with a coach like Guardiola who can help him with the small details for pressing. Has the physical frame to compete. Second ball winner, especially during his time in the Eredivisie. He times his jumps well to close off passing lanes. Recovers the ball a lot this way. This area of his game is something to keep an eye on next season, valid concerns, but he’s got the physical attributes and intelligence to improve.

At Milan, he plays alongside Fofana, with the freedom to move forward. Excellent at finding pockets of space off the ball to receive in dangerous positions. Contributes key passes to teammates moving from the wing into the box or making runs from behind into the box. He can provide the kind of through balls between the lines to Haaland, for example. Uses 1- 2s to escape pressure in midfield. Can carry the ball through the thirds in midfield. Shooting threat on the edge/top of the box, makes the right runs on/off the ball into the box from midfield.

That’s why it’s no surprise to see Reijnders rank this highly for Milan in attacking sequence involvement. Like Gundogan, he can be involved in the buildup and get into the box to either take a shot or drag an opposition player around with his run. Only Leao has more shot involvement, and Fofana has more build-up involvement.

He progresses the play consistently by carrying the ball forward. Only four players are recording more carries – moving at least five metres with the ball – in Serie A this season than him (561), and three of them are central defenders. And of the top 20 players for total carries, only one moves further on average with each of his carries than Reijnders (11.8m). He’s able to eat up a lot of ground with those carries, all across the pitch, and over the ninety minutes. Manchester City have been desperate for a player with that engine this season.

It’s this specific skillset that Ilkay Gundogan didn’t have post-injury at Manchester City, it’s partly why Kovacic has appealed and been successful playing alongside Rodri. This skill has been increasingly important in the Premier League with the shift towards man-to-man systems.

Spencer Mossman is well worth following. Below is a graphic he put together, which highlights the type of progress Reijnders is making. Among his group, he’s one of the best at adding npxG through his carries and passes. Rodri would be in the same group as Locatelli and Kimmich. Reijnders positions himself further forward, ahead of the 1st line, and does his best work there.

Now, one of the underlying takeaways from this past season is how poor the movement has been off the ball when Manchester City is in possession. The supporting runs in transition that Gundogan can’t keep up with, anyway. Those powerful driving runs ahead of the ball we’ve seen from De Bruyne so often. Reijnders is going to add those. Making similar runs to both Gundogan and Bernardo into the half-spaces. If he doesn’t get it back, he continues the run into the box.

Reijnders has a knack for arriving late in the area to shoot. It’s something Ilkay Gündoğan will always be remembered for at Manchester City, so it isn’t a surprise to see those two compared frequently.

His total of 77 shots this season, the 10th most of all players in Serie A and the most of all non-strikers, shows just how often he gets into a position to threaten the opposition goal. Below is his shot map from this season in Serie A, getting into the middle of the box to shoot, that’s what you can expect to see at Manchester City.

When you’re looking at the current squad, Jeremy Doku is crying out for a box crasher, hitting the nearpost, so I could see those two linking up well. Being a genuine threat, Reijnders can help draw opposition away from Marmoush and Haaland in the box. Thinking about the players linked to the club this transfer window, a player like Rayan Cherki could be perfect for Reijnders, mixing the passing ability and running capacity together.

As I have mentioned at the very start, in his current form, Reijnders is one of the best midfielders in the world, and the closest match to a young Ilkay Gündogan. Not without his faults defensively, but they should be mitigated and improved on at Manchester City.

Expect him to arrive as a starter from day one. Can handle the heavy minutes. He’s not had a simple career path at all, which has, in hindsight, given him the potential to have a long career. Real late bloomer. From all reports, a great character to have in the dressing room, who is a professional on/off the pitch. He’ll have positive impacts on the rest of the team, from Rodri to Jeremy Doku and Erling Haaland. Exciting player that has the potential to signing of the season 25/26.

Here is a video by Milan showing every goal Tijjani Reijnders scored for AC Milan this season. 👇

If you’re looking for more content on Tijjani Reijnders, then check out the links below 👇

• Ninety Three Twenty podcast talking to Joel Parker about Reijnders here.

• Opta Analyst article here.

• Thread by Bbebo_55 analysing the player here.

• Reijnders Interview with Voetbalzone here.

• Milan interviewed Reijnders and his family here.