Aston Villa Launch €70m Bid For This Manchester City Star: Why Should They Not Go Ahead? | OneFootball

Unai Emery is not messing about this summer. Spanish outlet Fichajes, as relayed by Match Day centre on X, has dropped a big update, claiming Aston Villa are readying a massive €70 million bid to snatch Tijjani Reijnders away from Manchester City. It is a bold, arguably chaotic move. But with Pep Guardiola now gone from the Etihad, Villa smell blood in the water and a chance to capitalise on the sudden uncertainty in the champions’ camp.

Aston Villa launch audacious €70m bid for Manchester City’s Tijjani Reijnders

Reijnders only arrived in Manchester from AC Milan last summer for £45 million. He started like a house on fire. Then, the spark fizzled out. By the business end of the 2025/26 season, the Dutch midfielder was firmly out of favour, warming the bench for nine of Guardiola’s final fourteen Premier League outings.

Even so, you cannot argue with the raw numbers: seven goals and eight assists in 50 appearances across all competitions. Not bad for someone supposedly struggling for minutes. Right now, he is starring at the 2026 World Cup, putting his creative flair on full display for the entire world to see.

Why Emery wants him and why Roberto Olabe should walk away

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JUNE 25: Tijjani Reijnders #14 of Netherlands during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group F match between Tunisia and Netherlands at Kansas City Stadium on June 25, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The €70 million price tag is eye-watering for a lad who cannot get into City’s starting XI. But look at how Emery sets up his teams. He craves elite ball progression. Reijnders offers that in spades, effortlessly drifting from a left-sided central role straight into the final third. He is a proper box-to-box engine, the kind of player who unpicks stubborn, static defences with quick, incisive passes under intense pressure.

There is a glaring catch, though. The physicality of the English game still catches him out. Put him in a deep double pivot against a side that presses high and hits hard, and he gets overrun. He desperately needs a robust, heavy-tackling anchor sitting right behind him to do the dirty work. Spending that sort of cash on a reclamation project is a massive gamble, especially when Olabe’s recruitment team could look elsewhere for half the price.

Take Johnny Cardoso at Atletico Madrid. He would give Villa way more defensive stability, breaking up play and protecting the back four without breaking the bank. Or Quinten Timber, a powerful playmaker who drives forward with the ball glued to his feet. Emery needs guaranteed weekly starters, not incredibly expensive bench-warmers from rivals. Blowing the entire summer budget on Reijnders feels like a luxury Villa simply cannot afford when that money could easily buy three top-tier players.