Manchester City lost out to Arsenal in the race to sign Declan Rice from West Ham back in the summer of 2023.
The Gunners ended up shattering their transfer record and spent £105m to land the England international, leaving Pep Guardiola to say: “For sure everybody knows City wanted him, we wanted him. At the end, Arsenal pushed more and wanted him more, maybe (Mikel) Arteta was more convincing than me, or the club itself, or their offer.”
It left Manchester City without a real driving force in the heart of their ageing midfield, where the issues were laid bare for all to see last season after Rodri suffered a serious knee injury.
However, Guardiola could finally be about to add such a player to his midfield as a deal to sign Tijjani Reijnders nears completion.
Manchester City close to signing Tijjani Reijnders, and he is eerily similar to Declan Rice
Manchester City are close to signing Reijnders after agreeing a £46m fee with AC Milan, and he is incredibly similar to Declan Rice.
DataMB allows fans to view players statistically, and when the Netherlands international was compared to the Londoner, an interesting pattern could be seen.
📊 Reijnders in comparison with Declan Rice.
[@DataMB_] pic.twitter.com/dUOYxgGFnl
— Manchestericonic (@manchestriconic) June 4, 2025
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As you can see above, they are basically the same midfielder.
Both Reijnders and Rice enjoy carrying the ball forward, averaging 94.4 and 93.5 progressive carries respectively last season.
They also both like to look towards goal, with the Dutchman recording an average of 55.5 forward passes per game last term at a success rate of 92.8% – and he can finish too.
This suggests he is actually even more adventurous than Rice, who himself has an impressive, but albeit much lower average of 42.5 forward passes per game.
The only major difference is how many more duels the Arsenal No.41 finds himself involved in, although that can be put down to the physical nature of the Premier League, compared to the slower Serie A.
Hugo Viana also set to scratch another itch for Pep Guardiola
This summer transfer window looks set to be one where Guardiola puts some demons to bed.
Not only could the Spaniard get the type of midfielder he wanted from 2023 in Reijnders, but the long-term pursuit of Rayan Ait-Nouri also looks set to end.
Manchester City bid for Ait-Nouri way back in 2020 as Guardiola pushed for the Algerian, who ultimately opted to join Wolves on loan.
Now, however, Manchester City are confident of completing a £50m deal for the left-back.