As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, it hasn’t been an easy week for Tijjani Reijnders or for Manchester City. On Wednesday night, the Dutchman failed to make his usual impact and Milan lost the Coppa Italia final to Bologna
Then, yesterday, Pep Guardiola’s team lost to Crystal Palace in the final of the FA Cup, thus closing the season with just one title, the Community Shield, the equivalent of the Supercoppa Italiana. In short, the same haul as Reijnders in 2024-25, even if City still have the Club World Cup.
Reijnders wouldn’t play in it with Milan, but the Manchester club would like the Dutch international to be in America. In fact, Pep Guardiola has put him at the top of the list of purchases for next season, with the hope of having him as soon as possible to take him to the United States.
For this reason, the first offer for Reijnders will arrive from England this week, and it will be worth just over €50m. Then, the ball will be in Milan’s court to make their intentions clear.
With Reijnders having signed a renewal until 2030 just a few months ago, the Rossoneri do not believe they are with their backs to the wall, also because Tiji himself – although excited by Pep’s courtship – is not the type to push for a sale.
He is doing very well in Milan and, if the deal does not materialise, he would not make a drama out of it. Thus, the Rossoneri will sit down to listen to offers only if they are close to €70m, and without particular haste.
The eventual, substantial capital gain would most likely be entered in the 2025-26 budget, a year that seriously risks being experienced without participation in the European competitions with the resulting spin-offs in terms of revenues.
In short, every euro of capital gain (Reijnders has a residual value of €12m in the accounts) would be useful to cover the hole created by the failure to qualify for Europe. This, however, clashes a bit with the timing thought up by City, who want him for the Club World Cup.
Would the Citizens change their target? Unlikely, because Reijnders is Guardiola’s obsession. Therefore, they would need to raise their offer, and it cannot be ruled out that in the coming weeks the race could also expand to other contenders, such as Real Madrid.
At that point, the midfielder’s price could rise further and set a record in the history of Milan’s sales, beating Kakà’s record, sold in 2009 for €67m.
