Following his transfer from AC Milan to Manchester City, Tijjani Reijnders’ final gift to AZ Alkmaar is a handsome sell-on fee reports the Algemeen Dagblad.
Regardless of the reported six million euro resale percentage, AZ technical director Max Huiberts spoke of how impressed he’s been by Reijnders’ enormous development at AC Milan. Initially, he saw the transfer as a challenge at the time.
“That’s a club with an enormous history if you compare it to AZ. He could also choose an intermediate step to Bournemouth, who were also interested. The fact that he is now taking this step to Manchester City makes us proud,” he says in the AD.
The Dutch international had to wait a long time for his breakthrough at the Eredivisie club, where he had to tolerate Norwegian Fredrik Midtsjø ahead of him in the pecking order. He even came close to being sold to FC Twente. “We eventually decided not to do it,” says Huiberts now. “But it was a close call.”
As VoetbalPrimeur suggest, that decision to retain Reijnders has worked out great. Due to said resale percentage and the solidarity contribution, which is shared with PEC Zwolle, he is the most lucrative outgoing transfer in the club’s history.
On top of the previous transfer fee of over 20 million, there is now another six million. Manchester City is transferring a fixed amount of 55 million to Milan, plus possibly millions in bonuses.
