Chances are very likely that Tijjani Reijnders has already played his last match in the shirt of AZ. The 24-year-old midfielder is in Milan to complete his transfer to AC Milan. As a result, he was already missing on Saturday afternoon at the exhibition match against Lech Poznan (4-0).
Reijnders has received permission from AZ to talk to Milan. However, the reports that he would be around with the Italian top club are premature. According to various media, the midfielder would earn around twenty million euros. This would make him one of the most expensive outgoing transfers ever. Vincent Janssen (22 million to Tottenham Hotspur) in 2016 still leads that ranking.
AZ coach Pascal Jansen confirms that there is a good chance that Reijnders will not return to the Alkmaarders. “Ti has been given the space to negotiate. It is up to him to get out. I take everything into account,” says Jansen, who would find it a special transition. “It is quite a step from AZ to AC Milan. It also indicates how far we have come and that players can develop in such a way that the absolute top in Europe comes before them.”
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“There are still a lot of guests from last year, including a number of newcomers. Tijjani Reijnders and Sam Beukema have left and the rest have stayed,” says Dani de Wit. “I have that I can do my thing and just stand there again. For me that is completely fine. Normally I go for the ’10 position’.”