According to The Athletic, Maresca said that Reijnders intends to join Al-Qadsiah and wants to leave Man City after only one year. The player is considered unsuitable for Man City.

Maresca said on Friday: "When players have already made up their minds, it's hard to convince them. You have to change their minds, and that's not always easy." During pre-season preparations, Maresca also revealed that Trafford, who has joined Leeds United, and Marmoush, who may still leave, had both decided to leave before the start of this summer because of last season's disappointment.

Maresca said: "The situation with Reijnders is the same as with Trafford and some other players. I think if the club, the player, and the coach are all on the same page, believing that the best decision for the player is to leave, then he has to go."

So why have things come to this? Reijnders was a key signing in last summer’s much-needed rebuild, but he is now on the verge of leaving. As Maresca said about Marmoush, who joined 18 months ago, there are many similar cases.

Reijnders' ability was always highly attractive. He arrived at Man City as the Serie A Player of the Season, and his ability to carry the ball forward, control games, and score goals made him look capable of making a real impact in any team.

Man City desperately needed a midfield boost after the 2024-25 season. The team won only 11 of their 35 games between October and March, and with De Bruyne and Gündoğan both leaving, Reijnders seemed perfectly capable of providing the impact and creativity the team needed.

In recent years, Man City have prioritized signing players who can dribble past opponents, and Reijnders fits this profile. Their multiple signings last summer followed a similar line of thinking, with the club hoping to bring in players who could change games and gradually make up for their shortcomings.

However, Reijnders always had some weaknesses, and these issues were ultimately amplified. Even during his excellent season in Italy, it was clear that his defensive contribution was minimal, and he was not even alert enough to anticipate second balls, let alone win them.

Last season, he scored 15 goals across all competitions, by far the best goalscoring campaign of his career. In fact, it was also his only season with more than 7 league goals, and his total for the 2022-23 season was inflated by 3 goals in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers. Without those goals and with a lack of defensive contribution, he would appear less impressive. Moreover, he is already 28 years old, meaning he should have accumulated more standout seasons before joining.

However, another problem might have been that he did not have a clear enough role in the Man City squad to fully showcase all his abilities. Guardiola wanted to utilize his goal-scoring attributes by pushing him further forward, operating alongside Haaland, in a way similar to how Gündoğan used to find opportunities in the box.

Guardiola said last summer: "We know he is a special player who can find space in the box. Italians know him well. He can play as a defensive midfielder, but he also likes to get into the box to support strikers like Haaland and Marmoush."

Reijnders would sometimes “enter” the box – for example, receiving a lay-off on the edge of the area – but when opponents set up a deep defence against Man City, he would often stay high, which did not seem to maximise his qualities.

His Premier League debut away at Wolves was highly impressive. After that, it became increasingly difficult for him to replicate the creativity and goalscoring instinct he showed at Molineux. However, he also often held a starting spot for consecutive months when Guardiola used the same starting lineup for weeks on end.

Strangely, he hit a purple patch in December and early January, scoring four goals in seven league games and seemingly adapting, only to be suddenly dropped from the squad.

Sources close to Guardiola’s coaching staff said that Reijnders was not deployed in a deeper role because the team simply did not need him to perform that job, especially with Bernardo and Rodri—the latter having returned from injury in January.

From early February until the end of the season, he failed to make a substitute appearance in 9 of Man City's 14 league games and started only 2. Sources close to the Dutch international said he felt he was not trusted enough and had begun to consider leaving, despite being happy in Manchester with his wife and having formed friendships with his teammates.

Maresca added on Friday regarding the players who want to leave: "They train every day, every week, and they all want to play at the weekend. When they don't play, it's hard to understand, and it's hard to know why. I can understand that after a season, some of them would want to play a bit more, which is normal."

Man City's midfield is likely to undergo significant changes this summer. Barcelona are pushing to sign Rodri, while Buadi and Enzo Fernandez may also join Al-Ittihad after the Club World Cup. Elliott-Anderson has already signed during the Club World Cup.

If Reijnders had stayed, he would have had the opportunity to play in a deeper role. That might not have solved his off-the-ball problems, but it would at least have given him more opportunities to showcase his other abilities.

Maresca said: "Overall, I'm very happy with his pre-season performance. I knew Tigi from Italy and knew him well when he played for Milan. I know he might play in another position; he prefers to play a bit deeper rather than too far forward. But, in short, he performed well in pre-season. Now we will see what happens next and then make a decision."

Another problem is that several of Man City's recent signings are eager to leave, which has also raised questions about whether they were truly suitable for the club in the first place.

Marmoush also appears not to have met the required standards. It is certainly not easy for a player to remain on the bench for consecutive weeks, featuring only when Haaland is rested or absent. Rayan-Aït-Nouri also admitted that he was sometimes “not very happy” last season, but he is willing to stay and continue working with Maresca.

Nico González was also one of the players overlooked multiple times last season, but he said that as long as the team performs well, he can accept being on the bench.

Since Man City began its rebuild in January 2025, the team has signed Marmoush, N. González, Khusanov, Reis, Cherki, Reijnders, Aït-Nouri, Trafford, Bettinelli, and Donnarumma.

Khusanov and Cherki look promising, while Donnarumma also brings some much-needed qualities to Man City, although he still has shortcomings in other areas. Vitor Reis has been on loan but is highly regarded internally; Bettinelli is the third-choice goalkeeper. Trafford has left, Marmoush and Reijnders are also preparing to leave, Aït-Nouri is hoping for a breakthrough season, and Nico González is behind Kovačić in Maresca's pecking order.

This means the final weeks of the transfer window will be crucial for Man City and possibly for sporting director Victor Hugo Viana. He has orchestrated many deals over the past 18 months since taking over from Begiristain.

Reijnders appeared to meet many of Man City's requirements, but ultimately he was deemed unsuitable for the team's needs. Despite the change of manager, which should have offered him a chance for a fresh start, he decided to cut his losses at the right time. After his transfer to Saudi Arabia's Al-Qadsiah, we may never know whether Reijnders was suited to the Premier League, or even to top-level football. Given that he played only one season for Man City, it is difficult to judge him fully now. However, the concerns that existed from the outset ultimately led to this failed transfer.

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