Nottingham Forest Target Tijjani Reijnders in Bold Move

Nottingham Forest are testing Manchester City’s resolve over Tijjani Reijnders, with the Midlands club weighing up a bold late-window move for the Dutch midfielder.

City, who only brought Reijnders to the Etihad a year ago after his standout spell at AC Milan, now face a decision that would have been hard to imagine when he arrived as one of Serie A’s most polished midfielders. A £55 million proposal is understood to be on Forest’s radar. City’s stance is tougher: they value him closer to £60m.

For a player who was expected to glide into Pep Guardiola’s system, the first season never really caught fire. Nineteen Premier League starts. Flashes of quality, yes, but not the sustained influence that usually cements a place in Guardiola’s inner circle. In a squad this stacked, that kind of return leaves you vulnerable.

The consequence is clear. Reijnders’ long-term future in Manchester is now under real scrutiny, and the 28-year-old is no longer fighting that narrative. Reports in England suggest he is open to a move, prioritising regular football over the prestige of a crowded City dressing room.

Forest have sensed the opening.

Backed by one of the most eye-catching sales of the summer – Elliot Anderson’s move to Manchester City for a fee that could reach £116m – Forest suddenly have serious financial muscle. The Anderson deal has not only rewritten the club’s recent transfer history, it has also armed them with the kind of budget that allows them to sit at the same negotiating table as the Premier League’s elite.

Reijnders fits a very specific brief for them: a midfielder with Champions League pedigree, used to high-pressure environments, capable of dictating tempo. A £55m move would be a statement that Forest intend to do far more than simply survive.

Yet this is not a straightforward splash-the-cash scenario. The very factors that have unsettled Reijnders at City also hang over any potential deal. He struggled to fully adapt to the Premier League’s rhythm in his first year. At 28, he is not a long-term project or a resale asset in waiting. Any club spending close to £60m on him is paying for immediate impact.

That is the dilemma facing Forest’s hierarchy. Is Reijnders the player to build a new-look midfield around, or an expensive gamble at the peak of his value curve?

City’s valuation has already shaped the market. Atletico Madrid explored a move earlier in the window but stepped away when they hit that £60m wall. Forest, thanks to their fresh influx of cash, are in a different position. They can at least entertain the numbers. The question is how far they are prepared to be pushed.

The likely battleground is obvious: a compromise between Forest’s £55m comfort zone and City’s £60m demand. Somewhere in that narrow strip lies the deal – or the collapse of it.

What Forest do have is leverage on the player’s side. Reijnders wants minutes. He wants responsibility. A move to the City Ground would hand him the central role that has eluded him in Manchester and give him the platform to reassert himself as a top-level midfielder, rather than a squad option on a superstar roster.

For Forest, it is an opportunity to turn the profit from Anderson into a ready-made leader in the middle of the pitch. For City, it is a chance to cash in on a player who has yet to become indispensable.

The numbers are on the table. The player is open. Now it comes down to how ambitious – and how ruthless – Forest are prepared to be in the final days of the window.