Manchester Metropolis supervisor Pep Guardiola hailed Tijjani Reijnders as a “particular participant” after the Dutch worldwide scored a brace in a 3-0 win over Palermo in Sicily.
The midfielder, a £46m arrival from AC Milan this summer season, impressed coming off the bench and twice found the net following Erling Haaland’s early opener.
Reijnders, who was named Serie A’s Finest Midfielder in 2024/25, is snug working from a deeper function in Metropolis’s engine room however it’s the 27-year-old’s abilities additional ahead that seem to have impressed his new supervisor.
“We knew that he [Reijnders] is a particular participant arriving into the field. He loves to try this,” mentioned Guardiola.
“Folks in Italy know him completely. He scored two targets and he made a incredible efficiency like the remainder of his mates.
“He can play as a holding midfielder however he likes to arrive to the field to assist our strikers like Erling and Omar and anybody who performs there. We’re actually happy.”
Forward of the beginning of the brand new Premier League season subsequent weekend, when Metropolis journey to Wolves, Guardiola was additionally filled with reward for the membership’s two different main signings throughout this switch window.
The Metropolis boss added: “The three signings we’ve finished earlier than the Membership World Cup have been actually good – [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait Nouri and him [Reijnders].
“The identical with Khusanov in January. He confirmed his potential as we speak and he is without doubt one of the quickest gamers I’ve seen.
“We haven’t performed many video games, we’ve skilled properly however now we’ll return to Manchester, attempt to make a superb week and put together the video games.”