Tijjani Reijnders Set for £52m Move to Al-Qadsiah After One Season
Manchester City are ready to cut loose Tijjani Reijnders after just one season, with the Dutch midfielder set for a £52m move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah.
It is a swift and brutal end to a short Etihad chapter. Reijnders arrived only last summer from AC Milan as a headline signing, fresh from being named Serie A’s Best Midfielder for 2024/25. City paid £46.5m to bring him in, a statement of intent for a player expected to slot seamlessly into one of Europe’s most demanding midfields.
Instead, the experiment is already over.
The fee from Al-Qadsiah represents a profit on the original outlay, but it also underlines a familiar Premier League theme: even marquee arrivals are no longer guaranteed time to grow into their surroundings. If the fit is not perfect, the reset button gets hit quickly.
Reijnders now joins a curious group – big-name signings ushered in with fanfare, only to be moved on after a single season in England’s top flight.
Crespo’s brief Chelsea chapter
Hernan Crespo was one of the first modern examples. In the summer of 2003, as Roman Abramovich’s money transformed Chelsea overnight, the Argentine striker arrived as a genuine superstar. He had already commanded a world-record fee at Lazio three years earlier and spent the season before at Inter Milan.
Crespo’s first year at Stamford Bridge was hardly a disaster: 12 goals in 31 games, flashes of the penalty-box ruthlessness that had made him one of Europe’s most feared forwards. Yet Chelsea were moving at breakneck speed. As Didier Drogba came in from Marseille the following summer, Crespo was pushed out.
He was sent on loan to AC Milan, the first of several moves in and out of west London. Crespo returned to Chelsea in 2005/06 and played his part in a Premier League title win, then left again at the end of that season to rejoin Inter. A big name, a big fee, but only fleetingly a central figure.
Di Maria and a year that turned sour
Angel Di Maria’s time at Manchester United was even more dramatic. In 2014, United smashed the British transfer record to prise him from Real Madrid. It was meant to be a reset after the dismal first season following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, with Louis van Gaal backed to restore authority.
Di Maria arrived as a Champions League winner, one of Real Madrid’s driving forces in their European triumph. He started with a flourish at Old Trafford, lighting up games with his running and creativity. Then the slide began.
He struggled to settle in Manchester and clashed with Van Gaal over his role and performance. Reflecting on that period later, Di Maria described how the relationship with the manager deteriorated, how meetings focused relentlessly on his mistakes, how the negatives drowned out any positives. Off the pitch, life felt heavy: the early darkness, the cold, the break-in at his house.
The combination proved toxic. Form dipped, frustration grew, and within a year United cut their losses, selling him to Paris Saint-Germain at a £15.7m loss. In Paris, he stayed for years, but his brief stay in England remained a warning about how quickly a marquee move can unravel.
Benteke and the weight of a record fee
Christian Benteke’s story at Liverpool carried a different tone but a similar outcome. The club triggered his £32.5m release clause at Aston Villa, making him their record signing at the time. On paper, it made sense: 49 goals in 101 games for Villa, a proven Premier League scorer, a powerful focal point.
He even started with the kind of moment every new signing craves, scoring the winner on his home debut against Bournemouth. The numbers, the profile, the debut – everything suggested a long-term spearhead.
Yet, as with so many high-profile moves that last just one season, the fit was never quite right. Systems change, managers change, expectations shift. The margin for error at the very top is tiny.
Reijnders now stands at that same crossroads. One season, one big move, and another door already closing. The next question is simple: will Saudi Arabia be a fresh platform for the Serie A standout, or just another brief stop in a career that keeps moving faster than anyone expected?
