Tijjani Reijnders moved to Manchester City in the first part of the summer mercato, and some new information has been revealed about his AC Milan exit.
There has been quite a lot said about the bonus structure of Reijnders’ exit, with many frustrated that the Rossoneri did not achieve the full package up front. However, it is not like these add-ons are unachievable, at least for the most part.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
Today, Calciomercato.com have delved further into the figures, including what bonuses are available for the Dutchman.
New figures emerge
Initially, the previously reported fee of €55 million is said to be wrong, instead, the club got €57.7m. Then, the bonuses could take the deal up by an additional €14m to take it just above €70m.
The bonuses are structured in quite a simple way. If Reijnders sees out his first contract – or stays at the club until 2032 – the Diavolo will get €4m, €1m per year after and including 2030. More easily aquired, if Manchester City qualify for the Champions League, they will have to pay. €5m.

This is where things get interesting. Should the Citizens win the Premier League, another €1m will be owed. Then, there is another €1m if he is the Premier League Player of the Season. For another €2m, City will have to win the Champions League.
Finally, and most intriguingly, is the Ballon d’Or clause. If Tijjani Reijnders wins the Ballon d’Or, City will have to pay €2m.
What is needed to be remembered here is that a maximum of €14m can be accrued, so not everything on the list has to be achieved. Alternatively, the Manchester outfit will have to pay €14m if the midfielder leaves before 2030.




So the only benefit here is if we buy him back before 2030 we get a $14 million reduction in price basically. This deal sounds even worse than we thought lol. So we’re going to sell a potential ballon d’Or winner for about 70 million IF he wins everything under the sun plus the ballon d’Or…got it…great deal selling a player that you think has that kind of potential. So if nothing else happens but he wins player of the season but they don’t win anything else, we get just one million extra. So we’d be selling a premier league player of the season for about 59 million…great…good job guys.
You really think he’s gonna win the Ballon d’Or? Rodri was the first non forward to win in 18 years.
What? No? It’s about the value you’re assigning the player. The deal says that winning the ballon gives us an extra million on top of an incredibly low figure. If he wins EVERYTHING a player can win, we’ll get about 70 million. Would any team sell what would essentially be the best player in the world for 70 million? lol so the bonuses should have been higher or the base pay should have been higher. Should have been 70 mil base with bonuses going up to about 90 million. The likely hood of most of these things are low so it just expresses how bad the deal really is. The fact they think there’s even a chance he could win the ballon but only wants a base of 57 mil is just laughable. Again, Milinković-Savić was going for 100 million like 5/6 years ago.
Not true. If he gets sold in one of the next 8 windows we get 72m total.
You’re not really reading my words so I’m kind of over it. Duh they would get 72 mil if city sold never said they wouldn’t. It’s not about that. But I’m over it, you’re not really engaging in what I’m saying. Oh btw I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d love to sell you.
Best player in the world? I don’t think he was even the best midfielder in Italy last season. Personally I think McTominay is a more well rounded player.
Absolutely right.
McTomminay didn’t win Midfielder of the season only because he won PLAYER of the season.
Tiji was second best in the league in his position, no lie there.
And don’t know what the guy above is complaining about. We don’t even have to hit all the milestones for him to rack up the 14M bonuses.
IF we buy him back before 2030, we get all 14M bonuses in full, which is essentially a discount on the transfer fee (if we actually want to bring him back that is). If City actually want to sell him, that would mean that he underperformed for them, so he won’t be worth as much as he cost to sell. Not sure how any of that is bad.
I think you’re reading way too much into it. Could we have gotten more than the 57M fixed base? Yes. I think 65M fixed would have been just right, plus then maybe 10M in bonuses. Reijners had a great season, but he’s not a 90M euro player. Just because they inserted some clause about winning the Ballon D’Or, does not mean that he’s some sure shot to win that award. It’s just another clause. Of the bonuses, the most likely for us is going to be the CL qualification, followed by the PL win and CL win bonuses, for another 8M. Which will almost certainly bring the income from his sale to 62M, and likely 65M. After that, the next likeliest bonus IMHO is the 4M for seeing out his first contract. All in all a baseline of 62M, with a decent chance at 69M, for a 27 year old with one season in a top 5 league with 15 goals. Not bad. And if we don’t get that last bonus, the implication would be was not good enough to stay at City for at least 5 years, nevermind win the Ballon D’Or. For comparison, we sold an actual Ballon D’Or winner for 65M in 2009. For perspective, that’s 97.4M in today’s money.
Have you considerd that tijji also wanted to leave ? Hes been saying how he loves milan but didnt think for 5min to cancel his holiday when city were circling…yeah he was going for 100mil who again actually offerd 100mil no one.
Modric won it, he is not a forward
The ballon dOr clause means nothing, Anthony Martial also had one 😉
I would also like Milan getting more money for him, but truth is, if City’s offer would be a bargain, more clubs would join the race. Real, Bayern, Chelsea, United.
But nobody else was really interested in him in that price.
I always liked Reijnders, but he is also already 27 this month, and played just 2 seasons of top-level football. Whether some people like it or not, this was a reasonable price.
Totally agree. It’s a fair deal.
I’m content with the deal, like you said if he was worth more there would have been more clubs. Also if he was as transcendent as some on here would have you believe our midfield wouldn’t have been so terrible. I know tactics is a part of it but Tiji is kinda proved to be a one dimensional player
“Alternatively, the Manchester outfit will have to pay €14m if the midfielder leaves before 2030”
Certainly possible….either way I don’t think they maxed out his value.
So this is almost a guaranteed 60m as it would be hard to see City missing out on a UCL spot. 64m if he stays the whole contract but 72m if he leaves in any of the next 8 transfer windows. I don’t see how this is a bad deal for a 27 year old with one good season in a top 5 league. Some fans look through heart-shaped glasses at Tiji.l, or maybe beer goggles.
Next 8 transfer windows lol. Nice of you to count all the winter ones. It’s about comparative market analysis which is typical for any business deal (most common in insurance or home purchases). I would love to see the CMA for midfielders in Europe. I’d love to see what any top club is asking for their best midfielder. I guarantee you the STARTING level is 70-75 million. Can’t wait to watch City sell him to Madrid or Barca for 100 million and they’ll make a nice profit despite the 14 million payout to us. Even if they collect on some of the smaller bonuses, let’s say it does reach 60m then they’ll still walk away with around 30 million in profit plus bonuses I’m sure. Midfielders aren’t dropping off at 31 anymore, they’re playing to mid 30s easy. 2 great years at city will easily earn him a move for even more money. He’ll be 29 in his prime, so ya 100 mil is def possible.
Name me a ~100m transfer or someone 29 or above not named Harry Kane.
So you just named one lol. thanks for proving my point.
More like you just proved theirs
Name one
You’re comparing Tiji to the second highest scorer in premier league history. Okayyyyy
This guy thinks Tiji is at the same level as Ronaldo when he moved to Juve. How Ballon d’Or does Tiji have?
It’s madness. People are so high on him because he was the bright spot in an abysmal season. He simply does not have the track record to warrant an extravagant transfer fee. I think what we got for him was reasonable and that will likely be proven out over the remainder of his career.
One out of how many transfers in UEFA per window? Come on man. Also, Kane has scored 392 goals in 610 games in his career, 73 in 107 for England. He’s had two 30 goal or more seasons in the PL (and one where he got to 29), three total in his career, 8 seasons of 20+ goals between PL and Bundesliga (including the 30+ seasons). They barely make strikers like that anymore. Oh and he’s never won the Ballon D’Or, so the fact that you think Reijnders is going to has got me laughing.
This comment is so nonsensical. Why wouldn’t they count the winter ones? If RM or any other rich club for that matter wanted him they would’ve tried. Another fallacy you pose is his increase in value after two more top seasons. If anyone has two consecutive PL best 11s their value will be maxed and I still doubt he be resold for anything above 60M.
It’s about guaranteed money, you don’t leave it to chance and leave money on the table. A quick google search will show that any top midfielder would start at 70 million, City didn’t take that deal thinking they’ll lose on it. I never said it was certain that City will sell him for 100 mil but even if there’s a small chance, you don’t leave that on the table, you just don’t.
Yea, we’ll see what happens and how Tiji performs. I think we’ll end up regretting that figure, especially since we’ll be spending at least 30 million to fill out the midfield (not counting Ricci). I think you’re undervaluing him. It’s not like Leao wasn’t producing this year, he still had over 25 goal contributions so we’ll be losing another 25 plus goal contributions with Tiji. That means we’ll need to spend heavy to get a striker that can do that for us as we’ll not be finding another midfielder who can. He was leagues ahead of everyone on the pitch. I know you all have your opinions but the mass opinion in Serie A determined Tiji was the best midfielder. So leagues best midfielder doesn’t get 70 million guaranteed but we wouldn’t accept anything lower than 100 mil when Leao was league MVP? Leaving money on the table…Most of the scenarios especially the 100 mil is a worst case scenario it is not likely so you guys are focusing on the wrong things. City took us for a ride, accept it. We’ll see how it shakes out but I think we’ll be looking back saying we missed out on 20 to 30 million.
One good season in a top 5 league. You’re just wrong.
So we already received 57.7 million. The low hanging fruit for additional payments are 5 million if Man City qualifies for Champions League and another 1 million if Man City wins the Premier League. These metrics are attainable, especially qualifying for Champions League that brings total to 62.7 or 63.7 based on Man City performance in 2025-2026. Not considering player achievement since they are unlikely. Not to knock TJ, but his defensive was a liability and his shots from outside the penalty area had more to do with “going for glory” then with making an assist to a player in better position to score. Using the money from his sale to buy Ricci and hopefully Jashari will result in a greatly improved midfield and improved team performance.
I think reijnders is a extreamily classy number 8 or 6 who plays with his head held high and is always available for pass and makes the always simple right desicion. Pep saw this and pep is the best at identyfing high technical players and only wants the best of the best in the world for his 8 and 6.
Therefore he is the best out there in his role. No doubt. As a Milan fan it made me proud to have him really.
Pep is the best coach the one who earns the most
Pep coaches a man city
City is a filthy rich club on on top of the food chain.
Reijnders is at his peak at 26/27. On todays market they shouldve payed min 75 cash plus 15 bonuses (at least) in my opinion
I don’t think one outstanding season makes a player a top player in their position. It makes them a top player in their position for that year. How many players who were still at a club like AZ at 25 went on to be truly world class. Tiji is a very good player who will likely do well under Pep, sure. But a world class midfielder? I need to see more to abide that status.
Not only the basic transfer fee but the timing of the deal was also important to Milan club all in all deal was pretty good for milan those 57.7 in june is much better than 70.0 in july/August for Ac milan
Well unlikely to get all of that then but probably mid 60s in total, not the best deal but not the end of the world. If we end up with Jashari and Ricci after than and if Allegri can somehow find some creativity in what’s left then fair deal all around… we just have to hope our pair perform.
Ballon d‘or clause is just nonsense lol. Still too low kind of deal for me. Seeing Onana sold for 50 mil (and Inter got him for free just a season ago), and lots of other unknown players easily sold for 50 mil or above.
And again this is City we’re talking about. A club who spent 60 mil or above for the likes of Nico Gonzales and Nunes.
I doubt he will stay at MC until 2030. MC will sell him after his perform down and that will give ACM another 14m euro
The structure of the bonuses seem fine and most of not all are achievable I like especially the one where they have to pay 14m if he stays until 2030, which is the max of the bonuses anyways. That’s quite a long ways off.