Tijjani Reijnders Completes £52m Move to Al-Qadsiah
Tijjani Reijnders’ brief Manchester City chapter is over. The Netherlands midfielder has completed a £52m move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah, drawing a line under a one-season stay that never quite lived up to its billing.
From statement signing to swift exit
City paid £46.5m to bring Reijnders in from AC Milan last summer, a deal framed as part of the evolution of Pep Guardiola’s midfield. He arrived with pedigree, range of passing, and the engine to fit seamlessly into Guardiola’s intricate system.
On paper, he delivered volume. Reijnders made 50 appearances in all competitions, scored seven goals and played his part in a double domestic cup triumph as City lifted both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in Guardiola’s final campaign.
Yet he never truly became a pillar of the side. Important, yes. Indispensable, no. In a squad stacked with technicians, he floated on the fringes of the core group rather than anchoring it.
World Cup starter, City outsider
Reijnders still travelled to the 2026 World Cup with his status intact at international level. He started all three of the Netherlands’ group-stage matches, a sign of the trust placed in him by his national coach.
Then came the knockout blow. In the last-32 tie against Morocco, he did not leave the bench as the Dutch crashed out. A tournament that began with prominence ended with him watching from the sideline.
The same feeling followed him back to Manchester.
Enzo Maresca, stepping into the most demanding of inheritances after Guardiola, made his stance clear early. Reijnders was left out of the squad entirely for City’s 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal on Sunday. For a £46.5m midfielder a year into his contract, that omission spoke louder than any press conference.
The pressure finally told. The door opened, and Al-Qadsiah stepped through.
A new project in Saudi Arabia
The Saudi club have handed Reijnders a reported five-year deal, tying the 28-year-old to a long-term project under Brendan Rodgers, the former Liverpool and Celtic manager now charged with building a competitive side in a rapidly changing league.
For Al-Qadsiah, this is a statement: a current Netherlands international, fresh from a World Cup and still in his prime, arriving from one of Europe’s elite clubs.
For Reijnders, it is a reset. A chance to swap rotation battles in Manchester for centre-stage responsibility in Saudi Arabia.
“I have been incredibly privileged to play for Manchester City, and I have relished every minute of my time here,” he said as the move was confirmed. He spoke warmly of the dressing room and the staff who “made me feel so welcome and a part of the Manchester City family,” and reserved a final word for the supporters who embraced him and his family during his short stay.
City’s midfield ripped up and rewritten
His departure is not an isolated story. It is part of a wider dismantling of the midfield that underpinned City’s dominance.
Rodri, the metronome of Guardiola’s era, has already gone, completing a £65m move to Barcelona. Bernardo Silva, one of the most intelligent and versatile players of the Premier League years, left on a free transfer at the end of his contract and signed for Real Madrid.
Now Reijnders follows them out of the door. Three midfielders, three very different roles, all gone in one summer.
Maresca inherits the rebuild. City, so long defined by their control in the middle of the pitch, must find a new rhythm without the men who once dictated it. Al-Qadsiah, by contrast, know exactly what they are buying: a technically gifted, hard-running midfielder with something to prove and five years ahead of him to do it.
