It is the engine room of AC Milan, the place where capital is forged. The Milanello Sports Center is located on a 300 meter high hill, 50 kilometers north of Milan. Opened in 1964, adapted to modern times. There is a barber’s room, a huge kitchen, fitness equipment, swimming pools, guest rooms for players and a handful of bright green football fields.
Tijjani Reijnders nods, whistling as he goes to work. He enjoys his car rides from Milan to the training complex. “When I drive to Milanello, I see all those mountains in the background, that’s a beautiful picture.” There, in the heart of Italian football, Reijnders – a 25-year-old midfielder from Zwolle who remained under the radar of top clubs for a long time – has found his place.
After he transferred from AZ to AC Milan last summer for more than 20 million euros, he immediately secured a starting place at the current leader in Serie A. Along the training field at the KNVB in Zeist, in conversation with three journalists, Reijnders says that he didn’t pretend to be ‘new’ at AC Milan in his first days. He immediately demanded balls, just like at AZ. “That was what I had in mind: just show myself. Having a shit, actually.”
Expectation: basic debut
It is that attitude that can now also launch him into the Dutch national team. Many players are missing due to injuries, including playmaker Frenkie de Jong. Reijnders is expected to make his starting debut against France on Friday in the qualifying match for the European Football Championship next summer.
Some new internationals – such as Feyenoord player Mats Wieffer – see national coach Ronald Koeman struggling to be as decisive as they are at their club. “As a player you have to be yourself and do what you do at your club,” Koeman said on Monday. “That sometimes takes a little time. But it does depend on the character of players.” Reijnders seems to have that self-confidence. In September he was a good substitute twice, against Greece and Ireland.
Also read: an analysis van Oranje’s last match in the European Championship qualifying cycle, against Ireland. Ronald Koeman’s team won, but with difficulty
It took a while for him to break through. In Alkmaar, Teun Koopmeiners and Fredrik Midtsjø were favored for a long time. Only last season did he become an undisputed basic force at AZ – which took him away from PEC Zwolle in 2017 at the age of nineteen. The club reached the semi-finals of the Conference League, after which it entered the picture at the European top. “In my opinion, I sometimes had to wait too long. Maybe I could have been there earlier. Apparently it had to be that way. Patience has been rewarded.”
In addition to AC Milan, FC Barcelona also registered this summer. The options were discussed at home, father and former professional Martin Reijnders is his agent. “Barcelona was looking for a number six,” says Reijnders – a defensive midfielder. “I’m not that.”
Where the technical management of AC Milan convinced him with what he called a “perfect plan” for a role as an attacking midfielder. Reijnders must provide depth and dynamism, where he was also involved in the build-up at AZ as a ‘connection player’.
He has developed into this new role in recent months. “There is a lot of emphasis at Milan on more movement without the ball in depth.” Precisely from such a deep running action, Reijnders gave a nice assist from the back line to striker Olivier Giroud, at Bologna, in the first competition match. However, we still have to wait for his first goal.
He previously said that defensive football at a club in the “lower regions” of a top competition does not suit him. He wants to be able to dominate. “I think you benefit me most when I play in the opponent’s half.”
He has adapted to the high level at AC Milan in a short time, “with world-class players”, as he calls them. “In the matches and training you feel that the intensity is also higher.” Although the number of kilometers run per match is “about the same” as at AZ. “What I noticed in Italy is that it can go up and down, especially at the end, which was less so in the Netherlands.”
Seven years ago he played for the Zwolle amateur club CSV’28 in the fourth division
Special route
He took a special route to the top. Seven years ago he played for the Zwolle amateur club CSV’28 in the fourth division. That season, Reijnders was actually supposed to switch from the youth of FC Twente to PEC Zwolle with his brother Eliano, but that club could not pay the training costs, he says. The solution: they trained at Zwolle and played matches at CSV’28, led by their father at the time. “That was nice.”
He has always seen his father, a former professional at Zwolle, as his “trainer”. “He used to have a football school, we were always there. He gave us a lot of technique training.” His father was known for regularly entering the Zwolle nightlife during his career. “He always says: it’s good that I did that, so that my sons don’t make those mistakes. Fortunately, we don’t do that either. He used to be on that for a very short time.”
At Milan, the club where Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard celebrated great successes, he is now building his own career. He laughs a lot and enjoys Italian life with his wife, in which football is so culturally decisive. He does not often go into the center of Milan, especially after the 5-1 defeat in the derby against Internazionale. It was “very quiet” at the club the next day. With a grin: “But fortunately that is our only defeat so far.”