Manchester City willing to listen on Tijjani Reijnders as summer rebuild takes shape
When Manchester City completed a five-year deal for Tijjani Reijnders in June 2025, the headline figure of roughly 46.5 million pounds was supposed to mark the next phase at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola wanted a press-resistant, deep-running midfielder to grow into a front-foot role, and the early signs backed that up. On his Premier League debut, a 4-0 win at Wolves last August, Reijnders scored one and set up Erling Haaland for another.
Less than a year on, he is on the move list.
A Tribuna report on Monday, following earlier reporting from Livescore, confirmed what had been bubbling around Manchester all month: City are willing to part with Reijnders this summer, alongside Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush, as Guardiola tries to free up space and wages for a new group of arrivals. The 27-year-old has not started a Premier League match for City since the 2-0 home win over Wolves on January 24, and has been an unused substitute in six of the last nine top-flight games.
What changed for Pep
The simple answer is that Guardiola found a midfield he liked without him. With Rodri's minutes still being managed after a season chopped up by hamstring trouble, Bernardo Silva and the more direct Rayan Cherki have done a lot of the heavy lifting in the engine room. Reijnders, signed to push for a starting role, has slid into rotation duty. Five league goals and a 2-0 Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal in March are not nothing. They are also not enough to keep a 46-million-pound midfielder in the matchday eighteen.
City's wider plan adds to the pressure. Guardiola is reportedly looking to cycle through several senior names this window, with Marmoush also expected to be available. The recruitment desk wants a clean slate before bringing in another central midfielder and at least one wide forward, and the only way to fund that is to cash in on assets they no longer build around.
Where Reijnders could go
Arsenal are the cleanest fit on paper. SciSports have flagged the Emirates as the strongest "club fit" in Europe for him, with a score of 86, and Mikel Arteta has been chasing a left-eight profile since the summer. The complication is the obvious one. City do not enjoy selling to a direct title rival, particularly to one they have just lost the league initiative to, and any deal between the two would need either a willing intermediary or a fee high enough to make rivalry irrelevant.
Italian interest is the natural alternative. AC Milan are believed to retain a soft spot for the player they sold less than a year ago, and Juventus, in the middle of their own midfield rebuild, have been mentioned in the reporting too. A return to Serie A would not carry the same political weight as an Arsenal deal, and would let Reijnders rejoin a league where he was a clear first pick.
What it means for City
If Reijnders does leave at the right price, it tells you something about how quickly the City project moves. He arrived as a foundational signing, played 45 games across all competitions, scored seven and assisted seven, and is being moved on inside a year because the system shifted around him. That is the cost of being a squad player in a club that does not stand still.
It also tells you something about Guardiola's late-career impatience. The Catalan has signed off on selling deep midfielders before, sometimes at a profit, sometimes not, and rarely loses sleep over the optics. If the bids reach the right level this summer, Reijnders will be on his way, and City will plough the money straight back into the next idea.
For Arsenal, that next idea is the one to monitor. If a creative Premier League rival is willing to underwrite the deal, this could become one of the more interesting subplots of the summer window.
Cricket Updates
