Pep Guardiola has never been shy about his love for midfielders. As he said in 2018, “If I could play with 11 of them, I would do that.”
So much of Guardiola's philosophy – and his success – has emerged from dominating the center of the field. Check the middle, Pep says, check the game.
He loves those players who read the game and have the technical opportunity to win, save and help the ball.
The misery of Manchester City this season happened because they lost control of the middle. Guardiola was almost all campaign without Rodri, the best ball retention in the world. Kevin De Bruyne, one of the great makers of all time, struggled with injuries and has now left the club.
Ilkay Gundogan, so the key to Guardiola's teams over the years, is 34 with his best days behind him. All this led to Guardiola's first trophy season since his city debut.
It is also the reason why City did not waste time when closing a £ 46.3 million deal to sign Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan this month. He takes a lot of the best parts of them all. He is the perfect Guardiola player.
Complete midfielder?
Reijnders, who made his city debut against Wydad Casablanca in the Club World Cup last week, is in many ways the entire midfielder. He excelled in a poor and inconsistent Milan side that finished eighth last season in the Serie A.
Among his teammates in League Action, he first ranked in front of Schoten (77), intercepts (38), passes (1,491), progressive steps (230) who move the ball on the field, wears (561) and progressive Carry's (275).
He stands in second place for shot-creating actions (117), all fitting from dribbles and drawing mistakes that led Milan to try a shot on goal.
He is deeply to collect the ball of defenders and build up attacks from the back, is fantastic in receiving fitting in tight spaces, can dedicate the ball to the field, split the defense with its passes and can score goals by getting into dangerous areas. Features all managers in a midfielder, but especially Guardiola.
He has made an immediate impression on his new city teammates. “He could be very important to us,” enthusiastically Nathan Ake after the 2-0 win over Wydad. 'From the first week in the training you could immediately see that it fits very well.
“He did very well in midfield against Wydad, he kept the ball really good. He also kept us moving and defensive, he was also very good. He can play multiple positions, he can get in the box, he can get you moving and we know he has a lot of quality. '
Boss Guardiola agreed: 'He is a really good player. Really good. You feel it, you smell it. When he gets the rhythm, he will be great. '
Pass and wear
Without the expertise of Rodri and De Bruyne in the engine room, the figures from the city fell. They were on average their lowest possession in a Premier League season under Guardiola with 61 percent and fell from 71 percent in 2017-18.
Although they had less of the ball, they also won it less than ever when his aging midfield struggled to swarm their opponents. They played their least passes in the last third and in the penalty area under Guardiola.
Their big drop -off was how many passes split opposition distribution and open teams open. This season they played almost 500 fewer lines -breaking steps than last year.
Their completed passes 'between the lines', which opta defines as those 'for a teammate placed between the defensive and midfield lines of the defensive team' fell from 973 in 2023-24 to 722 this period.
There are little better in it than Reijnders. This season he played 229 line-breaking in the Serie A, with 47 of those who split the defense line, more than any other player. His steps broke 26 times two lines of opposition players, according to Opta, the third most in the division among non-defenders.
Opposite, Wydad, he completed 68 of his 74 attempt (a remarkable 92 percent) – and the six who missed their goal were all in or in the last third part. With him in the ball in the next term, Erling Haland will lick his lips.
Few also wear the ball as Reijnders. Only one non-defender wore the ball at least five meters on more occasions than the Dutch international. Only former Arsenal -midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, now in Lazio, made more progressive wears to the goal of an opponent.
Runner and scorer
An important weapon in the arsenal of Guardiola over the years was goals of central midfielders such as Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. How often do we see Gundogan who charge those late runs in the box to sweep home opportunities.
The 77 shots of Reijnders were the most in the Serie A by a non-stroker while consistently found room in score areas.
Scott McTominay, the newly crowned king of Naples, was the only central midfielder with more competition goals than his 10.
Many of them came from those Gundogan-like runs, characterized by goals against Parma, Roma and Como.
He is not the strongest in the tackle with his ball recovery number under the lowest among midfielders in the Serie A, but he makes up for his excellent reading of the game so that he could make a good number of interceptions.
It is not slow out of possession – you can't play for Pep if you are – and has installed a strong working ethics from a young age. Reijnders' father Martin, himself a former striker near Zwolle, did not want his son to consider his budding career at the same club as a matter of course.
“I used to get up shelves at Aldi,” Reijnders JNR revealed in an interview in 2023. “I would also work behind the cash register and earn a few hundred euros a month.
'I recently spoke with my family about the contrast (between working on a regular job and football) and we concluded that my time at Aldi was really good for me. I have seen both sides of the coin. '
This season Reijnders played the most often in a sitting midfield two for AC Milan in a 4-2-3-1, but also to be seen in a three in a 4-3-3 or even a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1.
His versatility could be seen against Wydad, where he was the deeply midfielder in the first half – even took the Bal of Eerererson at goals – but moved to a more advanced role after Rodri came to the bank's hour.
So whether it is next to the Spaniard whether the next season will be stopped behind Erling Haaland, Reijnders is ready to help City not only replace De Bruyne, but also to recapture the best pieces from the other large midfielders Guardiola.