If Tijjani Reijnders signs for Manchester City, he will have plenty of midfielders to learn from.
While Reijnders could replace Ilkay Gundogan, he should look to analyse how the German maestro controls the tempo of games and ghosts into the box to score goals at will.
Bernardo Silva hinted he could stay at City next season and the Portuguese international is another player who could help the Dutch international morph into an energizer bunny in the middle of the park.
Unfortunately for Tijjani Reijnders, if he does intend on playing for Pep Guardiola in the following campaign, he will be unable to do so alongside Kevin De Bruyne.
Manchester City rate Reijnders very highly and while the AC Milan star should back himself as well, perhaps every midfielder could learn a thing or two from De Bruyne.
The Belgian, who is set to play his football elsewhere next season is one of the best creators the game has ever seen and a match-winner of the highest proportions.
Reijnders knows how incredible of a player Kevin De Bruyne is, naming him as his idol while speaking to The Athletic: “Then when I got older, I looked [up] a lot to Kevin De Bruyne.”
“I watched his games, YouTube clips, especially the way he was scanning the pitch before he gets the ball so he always knows where the space is. I try to do the same.”
Speaking to Rivinda Undici in January as well, Reijnders lauded Chicago Fire target De Bruyne: “Kevin De Bruyne. I followed him a lot, I watched a lot of his videos when I was younger. It’s a bit like my way of playing, a box-to-box midfielder who sets up the play and helps in the finishing phase.”
It will be interesting to see how Pep Guardiola deploys the Zwolle-born midfielder if City secure his services.
Reijnders’ own admission about being a box-to-box midfielder means he suits playing in a deeper role to that of De Bruyne, who cost Manchester City £54.5 million, who has mostly played as a number 10 in sky blue.
Based on this season, here is how the pair’s stats compare.
Reijnders has managed to outperform De Bruyne, having registered more goal contributions (20, 15 goals and five assists), however, he has also made 25 more starts across all competitions than the 33-year-old.
However, even at AC Milan, the former plays in a double pivot alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek and perhaps it would be wise for him to operate as a number eight, considering Florian Wirtz could replace De Bruyne at City.
