Man City: Guardiola ‘agrees’ for Arsenal, Barcelona target to ‘pack his bags’ if offered £48m – report

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·27 avril 2026

Man City: Guardiola ‘agrees’ for Arsenal, Barcelona target to ‘pack his bags’ if offered £48m – report

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reportedly ‘agreed’ to let summer signing Tijjani Reijnders leave amid interest from Arsenal and Barcelona.

Reijnders joined Man City from AC Milan during last summer’s transfer window for a fee in the region of £48m.

Vidéos OneFootball

The 27-year-old was a statement signing for Man City as part of their rebuild under Guardiola over the past few transfer windows, but he has had a mixed debut season at the Etihad.

The Dutchman has seven goals and eight assists for Man City this season, but he has not started in the Premier League since January and has been an unused substitute in their last three league games.

And this is prematurely fuelling speculation over an exit from Man City, with a Spanish website claiming Guardiola is willing to grant him an exit in this summer’s transfer window.

The report claims Guardiola has ‘agreed’ to let Reijnders ‘pack his bags’ in the summer as long as Man City recoup the £48m fee they paid to sign him ahead of this season.

According to the report, Arsenal are ‘among his potential suitors’, but his ‘profile remains attractive to top European clubs’ and Barcelona are ‘eyeing a market opportunity’.

Same old problem hinders Barcelona move

Given Barcelona’s renowned financial troubles, they are unlikely to meet Man City’s current demands for Reijnders, but the report says that they could make a move if the Premier League side’s asking price eases.

The report claims:

‘The reality is that Reijnders remains a player with the potential to excel at the highest level. His lack of playing time at City isn’t so much due to a drop in form, but rather to the intense competition within the squad. A change of clubs could restore his lost prominence and allow him to rediscover his best form. ‘Therefore, his future seems to lie away from Manchester. Barça is not, at the moment, a concrete option, but it is a possible destination if conditions change. The market will tell if this move goes from being an opportunity to becoming a reality.’

Reijnders impressed in Man City’s 2-1 FA Cup semi-final win against Man City, but Guardiola appeared to chastise the midfielder on the pitch after the game.

After the match, Guardiola was asked to explain this incident. He said: “I said I wanted to kill him because of how good he played, that is what I said!

“But Tijjani is another guy who hasn’t played in the last games and played really good, two or three chances, (Mateo) Kovacic the same. He made a really good (game) but at 1-1, I wanted a player more positional.”