Sicily, Aug 10 (IANS) Pep Guardiola has heaped praise on new signing Tijjani Reijnders after the Dutch midfielder scored two second-half goals as Manchester City beat Palermo 3-0 in Sicily.
Reijnders joined City from AC Milan in June, before going on to play three times for Guardiola’s side at the FIFA Club World Cup in the USA and he was the star of the show in Sicily as City ran out comfortable winners against their City Football Group sister club.
The 27-year-old is comfortable operating in a deep midfield role, but it’s in the attacking position he played against Palermo that Pep feels he has ‘special’ qualities.
“Yeah, we knew that he is a special player arriving into the box. He loves to do that. People in Italy know him perfectly [after his time at AC Milan]. He scored two goals and he made a fantastic performance like the rest of his teammates.
“He can play as a holding midfielder but he loves to arrive to the box to help our strikers like Erling [Haaland] and Omar [Marmoush] and anyone who plays there,” said Guardiola.
Reijnders was one of three outfield players to join City before the Club World Cup alongside attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki and left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.
All three have made fast starts to life at the Club, with Guardiola clearly pleased with what he has seen.
And with January signing Abdukodir Khusanov impressing in the win over Palermo too, Guardiola says he is delighted with his squad ahead of next week’s opening Premier League game against Wolves away.
“The three signings we have done before the World Cup were really good. Cherki, Ait Nouri and Reijnders. Same with Khusanov in January. He showed his potential today and he is one of the fastest players I have seen. We haven’t played many games. We’ve trained well but now we’ll go back to Manchester, try to make a good week and prepare the games.
“I am happy [with the squad] since the USA and our World Cup. Our vibes there were really good,” he added.
–IANS
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