Reijnders off to Saudi after a year

HalaMadrid7

Community Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2025
Well that did not last long. Tijjani Reijnders is apparently leaving Manchester City just a year after arriving, with Al Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia and a fee said to be more than £50m. That is an absolutely wild turnaround if it goes through, especially for a player who has barely had time to settle in.

It feels like one of those transfers that sums up modern football perfectly, a big-name move, a quick exit, and Saudi cash changing the whole conversation. City will not be too bothered if they are getting that kind of money, but from a football point of view it still feels a bit mad.

What do people make of it then, smart business, strange decision, or just another example of the game being completely cooked?
 
I was in the pub when this came up on the screen and everyone just sort of laughed because it feels like football has fully lost the plot now, a year after arriving and already off to Saudi for more than fifty mil, thats the sort of thing you used to only hear in FM save files and dodgy rumours, not real life, proper weird era for the game
 
Cant lie I expected him to stick around longer than that because City usually keep these things tidy, but if the money is that good then fair enough I guess, still feels mad seeing a player leave after only a year and go to Al Qadsiah of all places, proper modern football nonsense
 
Not really sure this is some huge disaster for City like people are making out, if theyve agreed more than £50m after only a year then thats just elite business, players come and go all the time and clubs will always take the money when it suits them
 
People are acting like this means Reijnders was a flop but it does not have to mean that at all, sometimes a club gets a player in, the fit is not quite what everyone imagined, and if someone turns up with more than £50m a year later then you have to at least think about it, especially for a City squad that can absorb the hit better than most. It is not like he has been sent off for being useless or anything, it is just the way the market is now, Saudi clubs can come in and change the whole equation overnight. I still hate it though because it makes the whole thing feel hollow, like what is the point of getting attached to a player when he can be gone before the shirt has even settled on him
 
The officials on this one are probably not even involved but I swear the whole football ecosystem around these moves is a joke, the money talks and everyone else just shrugs, and then people wonder why fans are sick of it, one year at City and off to Al Qadsiah for more than £50m, you might as well just print the transfer list out of a casino, absolute nonsense from top to bottom and it keeps getting worse
 
Imagine buying a player, barely using him, then selling him for a ridiculous fee like some sort of football stock market trader, City really are doing career mode with unlimited funds and no shame
 
honestly this is just where football is at now isnt it clubs will buy someone and if the offer is big enough theyll move on in a heartbeat no matter how short the stay was and then everyone pretends its normal because the numbers are massive and the shirt sales and all that bollocks
 
On paper this makes sense for City because a fee over £50m for a player after one year is the sort of return clubs dream about, and if they do not see him as essential then there is logic to moving him on. But it still feels like a sign of the times, because the Saudi market is not just buying ageing stars anymore, it is capable of pulling apart squad planning at every level, and that changes how every club has to think. I get the business side, I really do, but as a fan it is hard not to feel a bit cheated when a signing barely gets going and then disappears into the desert for a payday, it is just depressing really and I am sick of pretending otherwise
 
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