Tijjani Reijnders set for £52m move to Al-Qadsiah after one season at Manchester City

Manchester City are ready to cash in on Tijjani Reijnders, with the Dutch midfielder set for a £52m move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah after just one season at the Etihad.

Reijnders arrived last summer from AC Milan as a headline signing, fresh from being named Serie A’s Best Midfielder for the 2024/25 campaign. City paid £46.5m to bring him in, a deal that underlined their faith in his ability to adapt quickly to English football and Guardiola’s demanding system.

It has not worked out that way.

After a short, stuttering spell in England, Reijnders is now on the brink of an exit, his time at City likely to be remembered as a brief experiment rather than a new era in their midfield. The move to Al-Qadsiah still represents a sizeable profit for City, but it also places him in a growing list of big-name signings who lasted only a single season in the Premier League before being moved on.

One-season stars: when big bets don’t stick

Hernan Crespo knows the feeling.

In the summer of 2003, as Roman Abramovich’s money transformed Chelsea almost overnight, Crespo arrived at Stamford Bridge as one of the marquee names of the new era. The Argentine striker had already commanded a world-record fee when he joined Lazio three years earlier and had just completed a one-season stay at Inter Milan before heading to London.

He scored 12 goals in 31 games in his debut campaign for Chelsea. Respectable numbers. Not a flop, not a phenomenon. Yet it still wasn’t enough to secure his long-term future.

As Chelsea raised the bar again and brought in Didier Drogba from Marseille, Crespo was moved aside. The club sent him on loan to AC Milan, the first of several departures. He did return for the 2005/06 season and played his part in Chelsea’s Premier League title success, but that proved his final act. That summer he left again, this time back to Inter.

The pattern is familiar: big fee, big name, brief stay.

Angel Di Maria’s time at Manchester United followed a similar script, only louder and more chaotic.

United smashed the British transfer record to sign him from Real Madrid in 2014. After the turbulence of David Moyes’ season following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, the club wanted a statement. Di Maria, fresh from helping Real Madrid to Champions League glory, was exactly that.

He started with a spark. Goals, assists, moments that lit up Old Trafford and hinted at a new attacking era. Then the glow faded.

Di Maria struggled to settle in Manchester, both on and off the pitch. His form dipped sharply. The relationship with manager Louis van Gaal deteriorated.

“Things started really well,” Di Maria reflected later. “Everything was flowing. Then I started to have issues with Van Gaal and from there everything fell apart. Like I said, I started really well. Everything was perfect. But then suddenly we started having lots of meetings about all the things I was doing wrong on the pitch,” he said.

“He never showed me what I was doing well, just the negatives, over and over. Eventually I got fed up.

“Life there was very different. It gets dark really early and then the cold started. Everything kept snowballing. There was also the break-in at my house.

“When all of that happens; when you are not playing, when things aren't going well for you, when you have problems inside the club, it ends up affecting you a lot. It made me hate being there.

“I got robbed in Paris too and still stayed for another two or three years, because life there was good. In Manchester, everything just snowballed. I wanted to prioritise my family and that is why I left.”

United cut their losses, selling him to Paris Saint-Germain at a £15.7m loss after just one season. A record signing, gone in a year.

Christian Benteke’s story at Liverpool carried a different tone but the same ruthless ending.

Liverpool triggered his £32.5m release clause at Aston Villa to make him their record signing. The numbers from Villa were impossible to ignore: 49 goals in 101 games, a powerful focal point who bullied defences and seemed tailor-made for Premier League football.

He even announced himself at Anfield with a goal on his home debut, scoring the winner against Bournemouth and offering a glimpse of what he might bring.

Yet, as systems shifted and managers demanded different profiles, the fit never quite looked right. The club moved on quickly, as elite sides often do when a big-money signing doesn’t slot perfectly into the plan.

Reijnders now stands on that same thin line: a top-level talent, a major investment, and already on his way out after a single campaign. For City, the deal with Al-Qadsiah is smart business. For the player, it is another sharp turn in a career that seemed set to run through the heart of Europe’s biggest midfields.

The Premier League will not wait for anyone to settle.