Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca conceded that it may be best for Tijjani Reijnders to depart Manchester City.
Reijnders only joined Man City last year, having been superb for AC Milan in Serie A.
However, the Dutch midfielder has struggled to settle at City.
He still made 47 appearances across all competitions, with 31 of those being starts, while scoring seven goals and providing as many assists.
However, Reijnders now appears set to move on, with Saudi Pro League club Al-Qadsiah having reportedly struck a deal with both City and the player.
Ahead of City’s clash with Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday, Maresca said: “It’s a bit difficult to convince players when they are already convinced, it’s not always easy. It’s Tijani’s situation.
“I think when the club, players, manager, they all think in the same way, that is probably the best decision for a player to go? They go.
“Tij is not officially done, but we’ll see in the next hour. I already spoke with him a few times in pre-season, then we will see if he is going to leave or if he is going to stay, we try to.
“In the way he was playing in the pre-season games, I was quite happy with his performance overall. I know Tij from Italy, from Milan when he was there so I know him quite well. I know there he was playing in a different position, he likes to play a little deeper rather than high up the pitch, but again in the pre-season he was good.
“We’ll see what happens and we’ll decide.”
47 – Tijjani Reijnders made more passes breaking the opposition’s defensive line than any other player in Serie A in 2024-25. Unlocked. pic.twitter.com/AAthUSFc2M
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 11, 2025
City recently cashed in on James Trafford, who saw his gametime limited last season, while there is also talk that Omar Marmoush could leave.
And Maresca believes Reijnders is in a similar situation to that duo in that the last campaign has impacted his feelings towards staying or going.
“As I said, they all work every day, they do sessions every day and at the end of the week they all want to play a game. When they don’t play, they struggle to understand or see the reason why. I can understand that after one season, some of them would like to play a little bit more. It’s a normal situation.”
City are reportedly keen on signing Enzo Fernandez, though Chelsea are demanding a fee of £120m for the Argentine, and also set Friday as a deadline for any sale.
Asked if City would be making a move before the supposed deadline, Maresca said: “Not today, to be honest. I don’t think we’re going to do something today.”
Another player potentially on their way out of City is Savinho, with Tottenham interested in the Brazilian.
“[On Thursday] he was not part of the session. He was a bit ill. We’ll see, the session is in the afternoon [on Friday], we’ll see how it is and we’ll decide,” Maresca said of Savinho.
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