Juventus circle Reijnders as City weigh up midfield reshuffle
Tijjani Reijnders' first season at the Etihad was decent without ever quite catching fire. Seven goals and seven assists in 47 appearances, often in uneven minutes, made him useful rather than indispensable. Now, with the transfer window still open, Juventus are testing City's resolve.
Reports from Italy, via TuttoSport, suggest the Serie A side are putting together a fresh approach for the Dutchman: an initial paid loan with an option to buy for around £30m. Reijnders only arrived last summer, when City paid AC Milan £46m and handed him a five-year deal. A potential exit at that price would represent a significant loss on the original outlay.
Juventus, though, have their own constraints. The Italian side reportedly need to shift a few squad players before they can bring anyone else in. Whether that happens before the deadline remains to be seen.
"Juventus haven't given up and are devising a new plan to make the Reijnders move easier," TuttoSport report.
The picture at City is complicated by the presence of Elliot Anderson. The England midfielder's arrival has reignited questions over Reijnders' role, and Anderson's absence from the pre-season squad — he featured for England in the summer tournament — has done little to settle the noise.
Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, is still shopping. The Italian is planning to add Lille youngster Ayyoub Bouaddi to his squad, another body for the middle of the park.
Reijnders did start the friendly against Inter Milan, lining up alongside Mateo Kovacic in a double pivot. That suggests he remains in the manager's thinking, at least for now.
But with Bernardo Silva gone and Rodri's future unresolved, letting Reijnders leave would leave City thinner in midfield than Maresca might like. The argument for keeping him is straightforward: experienced depth is hard to replace in August. The argument for selling is equally simple — if Juventus are willing to pay, City recoup a chunk of the fee and clear a path for younger options.
Whether Reijnders stays or goes may end up telling us more about Rodri than about Reijnders himself.