Reijnders’ Man City exit confirmed as Romano confirms renewed Newcastle contact for second midfielder

The exit of Tijjani Reijnders from Manchester City has been confirmed, while a second midfielder could follow him out the door, with Fabrizio Romano offering an update.

Reijnders played for City for just a season before heading to Saudi Arabia. In recent days, a move to Al-Qadisah worth around £50million was revealed.

It means the Manchester outfit are making a small profit from the former AC Milan man.

The Saudi Arabian side have confirmed the acquisition of the Dutchman on Wednesday, with his contract running until 2031.

City have been looking at signing Enzo Fernandez all summer, and seemingly retain that interest after getting a midfielder off the books in Reijnders.

In recent days, TEAMtalk revealed there’s chance of another City midfield exit, as Newcastle have held talks over signing Nico Gonzalez, who City want to recoup a significant fee for, with the Spaniard receptive to a move to St James’ Park.

READ MORE: Newcastle launch enquiry for Bundesliga midfield boss as Matthias Jaissle eyes double reunion

Romano reveals Newcastle talks for Gonzalez

Transfer insider Romano has given an update on that in a GIVEMESPORT livestream.

He said: “Absolutely, they need to replace Bruno Guimaraes. They tried for several midfielders: [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg decided at the moment to stay at Marseille, then they had some contact for [Joao] Palhinha.

“They consider several options. I think now, Nico for sure is the most prominent name on their shortlist. They had contacts with the agents, they had contacts with Manchester City, from what I’m hearing, Man City are not closing the door to the exit of Nico.

“Then, the valuation has to be met, because obviously Man City are short of midfielders at this point. They will add more midfielders for sure, but still, for Nico they make an important valuation.

“There will be contacts between Newcastle and Man City again today and I think in the next 24/48 hours to try advance on this deal.

“For Palhinha, he’s also on Newcastle list, but not a top priority now, and for Palhinha there is now also Benfica pushing a lot, so maybe Palhinha is not returning to the Premier League.”

Indeed, TEAMtalk is aware that Benfica manager Marco Silva – who was in charge of Palhinha during their time at Fulham – is driving the Portuguese club to the midfielder.

As a result of his desire to land his former disciple, Benfica have put a four-year contract on the table for Palhinha.