Tijjani Reijnders has given his first detailed account of the reasoning behind his £51 million move to Al Qadsiah, and the picture he paints is not one of a player who was desperate to leave Manchester. It is one of a player who could see the same film starting again and decided to walk out of the cinema.

Speaking to The Independent, the Dutch midfielder explained that a single season at the Etihad was enough for him to work out where he stood under Enzo Maresca.

'In pre-season, I noticed that things were heading in that direction again at City, and I started thinking about whether I wanted another season like that.'

His conclusion was blunt.

'The honest answer was no. I wanted to look elsewhere, and then I heard from the club that I was allowed to do so.'

The timing of that realisation is instructive. City's preparations for the new campaign began shortly after several first-team players saw their international commitments curtailed. Nathan Aké was among those back early from the World Cup, a development that handed Maresca additional time on the training pitch with his squad. Those sessions, according to Reijnders, only confirmed what he already suspected about his own role. Nothing had shifted.

A Square Peg in a Round Hole

The tactical mismatch was central. Reijnders sees himself as a box-to-box midfielder, a player who covers ground on both sides of the ball and arrives late in the penalty area. Maresca used him further forward and more centrally, away from the deeper zones where he does his best work. It was not a case of being frozen out. It was a case of being asked to play a game that did not suit him.

He is candid about the fact that the decision did not come easily at first. There is a stigma attached to a move like this, and he felt it.

'I think a lot of people have the idea that your career as a top footballer is over when you make a move like this. I initially felt that way too.'

What shifted his thinking was a conversation about the longer term. At Al Qadsiah, he has already sat down with head coach Brendan Rodgers to map out a plan that does not end in the Gulf.

'I could have three or four very enjoyable years here and then return to Europe. There are enough examples of that now. That is my goal too.'

He also bristles at the assumption that the Saudi Pro League represents a drop in standard.

'With all the big names, I actually rate the Saudi league higher than the Eredivisie (Dutch league). If people want to judge the football there, they should watch it first.'

The financial element is not something he dodges. He frames it as security, not greed.

'I don't want to have to work anymore after my career. I didn't need to after City either, but now I can also set up future generations of my family well.'

'If this choice means my grandchildren can also live comfortably, why wouldn't I do it?'

And on the moralising that tends to accompany these transfers, he offers a short, dry rejoinder.

'You can always play the moralist, but I think everyone would say yes to that.'

The move was confirmed in August, closing a chapter that lasted barely a year. City banked £51 million for a player they signed twelve months earlier, and Reijnders gets a role that fits him, a wage that secures his family, and a stated route back to European football if he wants it. Whether that route ever materialises is another matter. For now, he sounds like a man who has made peace with a decision that plenty of others would have found just as difficult.