Manchester City have something of a rebuild on their hands.
Legendary creator Kevin De Bruyne has left the club, Bernardo Silva could soon be on his way, and the likes of Mateo Kovacic aren’t getting any younger.
They do have the small matter of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri to add back into the mix next season, but new faces will still likely be sought.
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Manchester City moving for Milan star
The Manchester club have needed to refresh their squad for a while and, as such, invested heavily in January, bringing the likes of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis to the club.
But that was before De Bruyne’s departure was confirmed. With that and Silva’s star fading, City are moving to shuffle their deck and have eyes on a Serie A star.
Pep Guardiola’s side are reportedly closing in on the signature of AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, according to Italian website TUTTOmercatoWEB.
They revealed that the Premier League outfit have an offer ready of €60m, which could rise to €70m with add-ons.
It follows news that Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz could be heading to Liverpool, according to Fabrizio Romano, despite him being widely thought to be City’s primary target for a significant time.
With Wirtz slipping through their fingers, Guardiola has reportedly told his superiors to “go hard” in their pursuit of Reijnders.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, though they are different players, and Wirtz would have been the obvious star prize to add a spark to City’s midfield, Reijnders is not a bad substitute by any stretch.
Capable of playing deeper and further forward in the centre of the park, the Dutchman has shown his creative spark this season with 10 goals and five assists in Serie A.
Trying to replace the wizardry of De Bruyne is a fool’s game, but City can at least replace some of his numbers with a player like Reijnders.
Reijnders is valued at €50m, according to Transfermarkt.
