Tijjani Reijnders' Rapid Exit from Manchester City

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 ruthless decision. Reijnders arrived at the Etihad only last summer from AC Milan, a headline signing on the back of being named Serie A’s Best Midfielder in 2024/25. City paid £46.5m to bring him in, betting on a player who had dominated midfields in Italy and looked built for the Premier League’s tempo.

Twelve months on, the experiment is over.

Reijnders’ time in England has been brief and, ultimately, fleeting. He joins a growing list of big-name, big-money arrivals who lasted just a single campaign in the Premier League before being moved on.

One-season stars: when marquee signings don’t stick

Hernan Crespo knows that feeling.

Chelsea paraded him in 2003 as one of the centrepieces of Roman Abramovich’s new era, the marquee forward in a summer of excess. The Argentine had already commanded a world-record fee when he joined Lazio three years earlier and arrived at Stamford Bridge after a short spell at Inter Milan, carrying the aura of an elite, serial goalscorer.

On the pitch, he did not flop. Crespo scored 12 goals in 31 games in his debut season for Chelsea. He delivered moments, he delivered finishes. But Chelsea were moving fast, and the club’s plans moved faster than he could bed in.

A year later, Didier Drogba walked through the door from Marseille and the landscape changed overnight. Crespo was pushed out, sent on loan to AC Milan, a high-profile casualty of Chelsea’s rapid evolution under Abramovich.

He did come back. In 2005/06, Crespo returned to London and played his part in Chelsea’s Premier League title success, only to depart again that summer, this time back to Inter. Two stints, two exits, and the lingering sense of a world-class striker who never quite became the long-term focal point he was signed to be.

Angel Di Maria’s time in England was even more turbulent.

Manchester United smashed the British transfer record to sign him from Real Madrid in 2014. After a bleak first season under David Moyes following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, United turned to Louis van Gaal and backed him with a statement signing, the kind of deal meant to jolt a club back to the elite.

Di Maria arrived as a Champions League winner, fresh from helping Real Madrid lift the trophy. He started brightly at Old Trafford, gliding past defenders, scoring, creating, hinting at something special.

Then it fell apart.

He struggled to settle in Manchester, both on and off the pitch. Performances dipped, confidence drained, and his relationship with Van Gaal deteriorated. Di Maria later described how the constant focus on his mistakes wore him down, how meetings became dominated by criticism, how the positives were drowned out.

Life away from football offered little respite. The early darkness, the cold, the break-in at his house – it all piled up. When he stopped playing regularly and problems inside the club grew, the situation became unbearable. He admitted it made him hate being there.

United cut their losses. After just one season, Di Maria was sold to Paris Saint-Germain at a £15.7m loss, a blockbuster deal that never truly ignited in England.

Christian Benteke’s story takes a different shape but carries the same theme of a one-season headline act.

Liverpool triggered his £32.5m release clause at Aston Villa, making him the club’s record signing at the time. His numbers at Villa were outstanding: 49 goals in 101 games, a powerful, direct centre-forward who bullied defences and finished ruthlessly.

He did not take long to make an impression at Anfield. Benteke marked his home debut with the winner against Bournemouth, a moment that suggested Liverpool had found their new No 9, a striker to build around.

Yet, as with so many big-name arrivals, circumstances shifted, managers changed, and systems evolved. The fit was never perfect, and his time as Liverpool’s record signing proved far shorter than the price tag implied.

Now Reijnders stands in that same bracket: a decorated arrival, a big fee, a single Premier League season, and an early exit.

For City, the numbers still make sense. They stand to bank a profit on a player signed 12 months ago, a rare outcome in the high-stakes world of elite transfers. For Reijnders, the move to Al-Qadsiah offers a new stage and a lucrative reset.

The Premier League will move on quickly. The question is whether Reijnders will be remembered as a missed opportunity in Manchester, or simply another reminder that in this league, even the most glamorous signings are never guaranteed time.