Manchester City confirm £46.5m signing of AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders
Manchester City have confirmed the signing of AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for an initial fee of £46.5m on a five-year contract.
The Netherlands international is Pep Guardiola’s fourth summer signing with Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli and Rayan Cherki having also joined.
Reijnders, 26, was signed in time to be eligible for this month’s Club World Cup in America and could make his debut on 18 June against Wydad FC.
City decided not to pursue a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz owing to the cost of the deal.
Instead, they have signed Reijnders, Cherki, Bettinelli and Ait-Nouri for a total of around £108m, less than the reported 150m Euros (£127m) asking price for Germany international Wirtz.
The midfielder has been capped 22 times by the Netherlands but was left on the bench during Tuesday night’s 8-0 thrashing of Malta.
He scored 15 goals in 54 matches across all competitions for Milan last term and was named Serie A’s midfielder of the season.
With Kevin de Bruyne departing the club, Reijnders will strengthen the centre of the pitch for Guardiola as they look to improve on their third-placed Premier League finish last season.
