Last month, Tijjani Reijnders shared about Kevin De Bruyne, sparking rumors that he would join Man City to replace the Belgian midfielder.
The Milan star shared that he has watched many videos about De Bruyne, idolising the Belgian midfielder's ability to choose space. In addition, this Dutch midfielder also hopes to be able to play at such a high level.
Just nearly a month later, he was a Man City man with a contract worth 70 million Euros. Reijnders have reached a higher level in their career when playing for a team that is a force in Europe. In particular, he will play under Pep Guardiola, who contributed to the success of Kevin De Bruyne.
Not only wanting to play like De Bruyne, Reijnders shared that they also try to recreate the playing style of Andres Iniesta - Barcelona legend.
In the past, Pep himself was Iniesta's teacher at Camp Nou, there is more reason for Reijnders to be more confident that his current destination is the right choice.
There are many comments about Tijjani Reijnders but they all have one thing in common, the Dutch midfielder will play very well in the midfield area, just like the conductor regulates the playing style.
Although he said he was trying to learn from De Bruyne, Reijnders' playing style had a mix of Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.
In Pep's successful era at Man City, this is a trio of pillars alongside Rodri.
All players who want to succeed at the Etihad must possess the qualities of this trio, Reijnders can converge all of that.
Reijnders have the ability to impact any position on the pitch. He can comfortably receive the ball from the goalkeeper, ready to play the deepest back and gradually move the ball forward.
Whether Rodri returns to top form or not, this ability of Reijnders is always useful.
When facing strong pressing opponents, Pep often pushes Gundogan deeper to support Rodri. However, the Spanish coach also wanted Gundogan to hold the ball forward after completing the assist, even causing an impact on the opponent's third of the field. This is something Reijnders can do.
Reijnders is a player who does not like cumbersome handling, he often passes the ball quickly, compactly and often runs free of the ball to choose a favorable position. All of these qualities will help him integrate very quickly into Man City's playing style.
Man City signed Nico Gonzalez in the winter transfer window but it seems the Spaniard has only the ability to intercept and not deploy the ball well up front.
Mateo Kovacic is the same, although he has scored many goals from outside the box, that is not the result of breakthrough ball possession from the back. Tijjani Reijnders can completely fill these shortcomings of Gonzalez and Kovacic.
Reijnders was born for Pep Guardiola. The Dutch star has the comfort of playing midfield, good handling in tight spaces and great match control skills.
Playing under pressure from the Premier League will be something the former AC Milan star needs to adapt to. Serie A certainly cannot have the speed and intensity of the Premier League, if they pass the first stage, Reijnders will have a very high success rate.
Not only controlling the match well, Reijnders' scoring ability is quite good. He has scored 15 goals last season in all competitions. This is one of the outstanding features of Kevin De Bruyne.
It is unpredictable whether Pep Guardiola will add any more midfielders after Tijjani Reijnders, but with the appearance of the Dutch star, the memory of Kevin De Bruyne will be greatly reduced.
