City announced the £46.6m signing of Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan on Wednesday, the Serie A player of the year following this week’s signings of Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.
The result is a radically overhauled squad from the one that started the 2024-25 season, with Reijnders giving Pep Guardiola the ball-carrying midfielder capable of beating the press that he has been searching for since 2023.
Reijnders becomes City’s latest big-money summer arrival (Photo: Getty)The feeling is that with his mojo back after a difficult 12 months, Guardiola can mould this new group into a team capable of recapturing the title taken by Liverpool this season.
It has certainly been a remarkable and defiant shopping spree, regarded by rival Premier League executives as City “flexing their muscles” after a disappointing season.
Ederson is not off limits if the right offer comes in (Photo: Reuters)
The reset may not be over, though. The i Paper understands that City remain in the market for a right-back – tentative efforts to tempt Newcastle United to sell Tino Livramento have met with a resounding not-for-sale message from St James’ Park – and may replace senior first team players who they will listen to offers for.
City need to find solutions for big earners Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish – also absent from their Club World Cup squad – who will also depart. But a swift exit for Grealish is unlikely even though half of the Premier League is interested in the terms City and the player are demanding.
There is, however, a big market for academy graduate James McAtee, wanted by Everton and clubs in the Bundesliga, and the £25m asking price would be banked as “pure profit” under the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
Deals like that are part of the reason City have no PSR worries, despite the significant spending of the last year.
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“They’ve been extremely smart in the transfer market: they’ve sold [Julian] Alvarez, they sold Cole Palmer, they sold [Oleksandr] Zinchenko. There is so much capacity to spend because they’ve sold so well.”
Those who hoped this season’s misstep was the beginning of the end for City might wind up disappointed.
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