Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed Tijjani Reijnders as a “special player” after the Dutch international scored a brace in a 3-0 win over Palermo in Sicily.
The midfielder, a £46m arrival from AC Milan this summer, impressed coming off the bench and twice found the net following Erling Haaland’s early opener.
Reijnders, who was named Serie A’s Best Midfielder in 2024/25, is comfortable operating from a deeper role in City’s engine room but it is the 27-year-old’s talents further forward that appear to have impressed his new manager.
“We knew that he [Reijnders] is a special player arriving into the box. He loves to do that,” said Guardiola.
“People in Italy know him perfectly. He scored two goals and he made a fantastic performance like the rest of his mates.
“He can play as a holding midfielder but he loves to arrive to the box to help our strikers like Erling and Omar and anyone who plays there. We are really pleased.”
Ahead of the start of the new Premier League season next weekend, when City travel to Wolves, Guardiola was also full of praise for the club’s two other major signings during this transfer window.
The City boss added: “The three signings we have done before the Club World Cup were really good – [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait Nouri and him [Reijnders].
“The same with Khusanov in January. He showed his potential today and he is one of the fastest players I have seen.
“We haven’t played many games, we’ve trained well but now we’ll go back to Manchester, try to make a good week and prepare the games.”
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2025-08-10 11:23:07
