Tijjani Reijnders' Brief Manchester City Tenure Ends with £52m Move to Al-Qadsiah
Manchester City are ready to cut ties with Tijjani Reijnders after just one season, agreeing a £52m sale to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah.
The Dutch midfielder arrived at the Etihad last summer as a headline signing from AC Milan, fresh from being named Serie A's Best Midfielder for the 2024/25 season. City paid £46.5m to bring him in, a statement deal that was supposed to add another layer of control and creativity to Pep Guardiola’s midfield.
Twelve months on, he’s on his way out.
Reijnders’ time in England has been brief and ultimately underwhelming in the context of City’s relentless standards. Competition for places in midfield is fierce, and the club has never been shy about reshaping a winning squad if the right offer lands on the table. Al-Qadsiah’s bid does exactly that: it delivers City a profit on a player they have used for only a single campaign.
He now joins a growing list of high-profile Premier League arrivals who lasted just one season before being moved on.
One-and-done: the big names who didn’t stick
Hernan Crespo was one of the first marquee examples. In the summer of 2003, as Roman Abramovich’s money transformed Chelsea almost overnight, Crespo arrived in west London as a superstar centre-forward. He had already been a world transfer-record signing for Lazio and had just completed a year at Inter Milan.
On paper, he did his job. Twelve goals in 31 games in his debut season is hardly a failure. But Chelsea were evolving quickly. The following summer, Didier Drogba walked through the door from Marseille, and Crespo was pushed aside.
He was sent on loan to AC Milan, the kind of “luxury” exit that underlined just how rapidly Chelsea were stockpiling elite talent. Crespo did return for the 2005/06 campaign and played his part in delivering the Premier League title, only to depart again that summer, this time back to Inter. Two spells, one league title, but no lasting roots.
Angel Di Maria’s stay at Manchester United was even more turbulent.
United smashed the British transfer record to sign him from Real Madrid in 2014, a marquee response to the club’s slide after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Di Maria had just helped Real Madrid to Champions League glory and began brightly at Old Trafford, offering the kind of flair United fans craved.
The spark faded fast.
He struggled to settle on and off the pitch, and his relationship with Louis van Gaal deteriorated. Di Maria later described how the mood soured as meetings with the manager focused relentlessly on his mistakes rather than his strengths. The football wasn’t flowing, life in Manchester felt heavy, and a break-in at his house only deepened the sense of unease.
When the frustration piled up – limited minutes, tactical friction, personal issues – he wanted out. United accepted a significant loss, selling him to Paris Saint-Germain for a fee £15.7m lower than they had paid. In Paris, he stayed for years. In Manchester, he barely left a footprint.
Christian Benteke’s case was different, but the pattern was familiar.
Liverpool triggered his £32.5m release clause at Aston Villa, making him the club’s record signing at the time. He arrived with a strong Premier League record – 49 goals in 101 games for Villa – and he started promisingly at Anfield, scoring the winner on his home debut against Bournemouth.
The story of what came next belongs to another chapter, but the theme is clear: big fee, big expectations, short shelf life.
Reijnders now steps into that same category. A major arrival. A swift departure. Another reminder that in the modern game, even headline signings can be fleeting stops on a much bigger, faster-moving journey.
