Nottingham Forest Consider £55m Move for Tijjani Reijnders

Nottingham Forest are testing Manchester City’s resolve over Tijjani Reijnders, sensing an opportunity in a market that rarely forgives hesitation.

The Midlands club are weighing up a move in the region of £55 million for the Netherlands international, who arrived at the Etihad only a year ago after an impressive spell with AC Milan. City paid for a midfielder in his prime; they have not yet seen that version consistently in sky blue.

Reijnders, now 28, started just 19 Premier League games under Pep Guardiola in his debut campaign. For a player who thrived as a central figure in Milan’s midfield, the reduced role has left his long-term future in Manchester under a cloud. The expectation was that he would slot seamlessly into Guardiola’s intricate system. The reality has been more uneven.

That gap between expectation and delivery has opened the door. According to reports in the Daily Mail, Reijnders is now open to leaving City in search of regular football. The message is clear: he wants minutes, not cameos.

Forest have moved quickly into that space. They are exploring a £55m deal to take him to the City Ground, but City’s stance is predictably firm. The champions are understood to be holding out for closer to £60m, a figure that has already shaped this window for the player.

Atletico Madrid showed interest earlier in the summer, only to walk away when confronted with City’s valuation. The Spanish side admired the player but not the price. That hesitation left the path clearer for an English rival willing to push harder.

Forest, unusually for a club of their profile, are in a position to do exactly that. The sale of Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for a fee that could rise to £116m has transformed their financial landscape. That deal has given Forest a rare level of flexibility and the freedom to target players who, not long ago, would have been out of reach.

Now comes the hard question: is Reijnders the right way to spend such capital?

On one side of the argument sits his pedigree. A Dutch international, proven in Serie A, technically polished and tactically intelligent. On the other sits the evidence of the past year. He struggled to fully adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League, and at 28 he is not a long-term project but an immediate solution. Any significant outlay now carries limited resale upside.

Forest’s hierarchy must decide whether they are paying for the player he was at AC Milan, the player City thought they were buying, or the player he has actually been in England so far. It is a fine distinction, but an expensive one.

The negotiation itself is delicately poised. Forest’s interest is serious, Reijnders is open to the move, and City are prepared to sell at the right price. The gap between £55m and £60m is not enormous in modern market terms, but it is large enough to test how much Forest truly believe he can reshape their midfield.

Reijnders’ willingness to leave gives Forest a crucial edge. They are not trying to prise away a reluctant squad player; they are offering him the one thing City cannot guarantee – a central role, week after week, in a team being rebuilt with ambition.

For Forest, this is more than a statement signing. It is a measure of where they see themselves in the Premier League hierarchy after cashing in on Anderson. Do they double down and back a player with something to prove, or do they walk away and look for younger, potentially cheaper options?

The clock is ticking on the window, the numbers are on the table, and a midfielder at a crossroads is waiting. How far Forest are prepared to go for Tijjani Reijnders will say plenty about the scale of their intent this season.