Will Tijjani Reijnders start for Manchester City? FPL dilemma resolvedplaceholder image
Will Tijjani Reijnders start for Manchester City? FPL dilemma resolved | Getty Images
Many FPL players are turning to Tijjani Reijnders ahead of Gameweek 1 - but should they, and will he even play?
Within hours, millions of Fantasy Premier League manager will press ‘submit’ on their squad for the final time before the 2025/26 season starts – and that means an awful lot of last-minute agonising going on right around the world, with one of the dilemmas managers are facing being whether to sign Manchester City new boy Tijjani Reijnders.
Despite being a defensive midfielder and a new signing, the Dutchman is set to be in a remarkable 16.2% of FPL teams at the time of writing, making him one of the most popular midfielders in the game. But will he actually start against Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend? And should he be in your team at all?
Will Tijjani Reijnders start for Manchester City against Wolves?
One of the biggest concerns for any FPL player choosing Manchester City assets for their side is simply that they may well be rotated in and out of Pep Guardiola’s side at will due to the churn of the infamous ‘Pep Roulette’ – the City manager’s habit of chopping and changing his team selections unexpectedly and unpredictably.
Injuries to other players competing for places in City’s side do give Reijnders a strong chance of starting against Wolves on Saturday evening, however. Mateo Kovačić is still out after undergoing surgery on an Achilles injury in June, and Rodri is expected to be out for around a month thanks to a groin problem.
Still, Reijnders doesn’t have an entirely clear path to minutes, with Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis and Ilkay Gündoğan all options in midfield, while Guardiola also give Nico O’Reilly a start in midfield in City’s one and only pre-season friendly against Palermo – leaving Reijnders on the bench in the process.
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Happily for Reijnders’ owners, however, the Dutchman did come on at half-time, and promptly scored twice to ensure a comfortable 3-0 victory. It’s that brace that has powered his inclusion in so many FPL teams.
As it stands, barring unexpected updates during Guardiola’s Friday afternoon press conference, it seems probable (but by no means certain) that Reijnders will play. He played the full 90 minutes in three of City’s four Club World Cup games and Guardiola seemed to view him as a core part of the squad. Still, this is Guardiola. You never quite know…
Should Reijnders be in your team in the first place?
Reijnders scored twice against Palermo but also managed 10 goals in the league for AC Milan last season – so the potential for the Dutchman to be under-priced at £5.5m if he does get regular playing time is definitely there.
That was a big increase in scoring output, however, and it remains to be seen whether it can be sustainable. He had never previously managed more than three goals in a league season and may play a very slightly deeper role in Guardiola’s system. Scoring 10 could well prove to be a one-off, despite his pre-season heroics.
It’s also worth noting that Reijnders is very unlikely to pick up many defensive contribution points. Midfielders need 12 contributions per game to collect two bonus points, and Reijnders managed fewer than six on average for Milan last season. He may notionally be a ‘defensive’ midfielder, but he’s a possession-based player and his points potential will be based solely on his goals and assists.
And he would need to be getting back towards double figures to be worth it in the FPL. Reijnders is only a worthwhile inclusion if he both plays and scores regularly. The former is in doubt once Rodri and Kovačić return, especially given the nature of the manager, and the latter is entirely unproven.
Reijnders is a gamble, and there are other players at £5.5m – most notably Moisés Caicedo and Elliot Anderson – who should reliably return enough defensive contribution points that they set a high scoring bar for Reijnders to clear.
Take his 36 starts, 10 goals and four assists last season for Milan, and he would have likely passed 150 points with bonuses. That’s great for his price point, but similar to what Caicedo and Anderson scored – and they will likely get more minutes over the season. Reijnders could be the best £5.5m midfielder, but the odds are that rotation and Guardiola’s system will make it an uphill battle.
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