Tijjani Reijnders names Manchester City teammate he is most excited to play alongside | OneFootball

Manchester City and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders has revealed which of his new teammates he is most looking forward to lining up alongside.

Reijnders completed an initial €55 million transfer from AC Milan earlier this week, signing a five-year contract at the Etihad Stadium that will keep him in Manchester City colours till the end of the 2030-31 season.

City had identified Reijnders as a priority target in the attacking midfield area heading into the summer transfer window and the 26-year-old is one of four new arrivals at the Etihad Stadium ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup.

Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli and Rayan Cherki have also put pen to paper and joined forces with Pep Guardiola, with the trio and Reijnders all included in the group that flew out to the United States for the Club World Cup on Thursday.

Bernardo Silva has been linked with a possible departure as the Portuguese enters the final 12 months of his contract amid interest from Benfica, having held a desire to move closer to his homeland since the summer of 2020.

Reijnders will provide additional depth in midfield for Manchester City, who were desperately short of inspiration and creativity in the position last term as usual architects-in-chief Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne struggled for form and fitness respectively.

De Bruyne has since joined Napoli on a free transfer on a two-year deal after the Belgium midfielder was told by Manchester City bosses he was not part of their plans for the 2024-25 campaign.

The six-time Premier League winner’s departure gave birth to concerns amongst the Manchester City fanbase, who have since seen a statement of intent from director of football Hugo Viana as the club brought in Cherki and Reijnders to bolster their attacking prospects.

Speaking in his first set of in-house Manchester City interviews this week, Reijnders was quizzed about which of his new teammates he is most excited to play alongside after completing a much-awaited transfer from AC Milan.

Reijnders promptly replied: “Rodri,” which is likely to become a recurring response amongst new midfield arrivals at the Etihad Stadium, who will be highly attracted to the Manchester City project owing to the prospect of lining up alongside the current Ballon d’Or holder.

Rodri has been Manchester City’s best and most important player in recent years, playing an instrumental role in the club’s quartet of successive Premier League title wins between 2021-24 and scoring the winner in their UEFA Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in 2023.

The 28-year-old led Spain to European Championship glory last summer and Manchester City felt the toll of his absence over the course of the recent season as Rodri remained on the sidelines with an ACL injury sustained against Arsenal in September 2024 and only made his return to the pitch against Bournemouth in May.