Tijjani Reijnders has been one of the most remarkable and impactful midfielders at Milan — and in Serie A overall — this season.
He has added a lot of value to the Rossoneri’s performances since his arrival.
Following his excellent performances, most notably at the start of this campaign against Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, and others, Reijnders has attracted the interest of many top European teams, including Manchester City, Tottenham, and others.
This interest stems mainly from his latest exceptional performance in the UEFA Champions League encounter against Real Madrid, during which the Dutch international excelled in numerous aspects, particularly in terms of goalscoring, key passing, and dribbling.
What is even more impactful regarding Reijnders’ performances is his intelligent off-the-ball movement and ability to position himself in key spots.
These allow him to receive passes in dangerous areas and, therefore, increase his chances of goalscoring.
This capacity to sense goals and position himself in key spots, and be able to do so, adds significantly to Milan’s goalscoring average and has been helping the team a great deal in terms of points as well.
In addition to goalscoring, the Dutch player is also becoming one of the most crucial passers in Serie A.
He usually succeeds in breaking lines with extremely accurate key passes that often create goalscoring opportunities for his attacking teammates.
It is worth noting that Reijnders began his football career at PEC Zwolle in 2017, following a youth period spent at the same club.
In 2021, he moved to AZ Alkmaar but initially started playing for the reserve team. He then got the opportunity to play for the first team.
At AZ, Reijnders developed his abilities and started performing at his best.
He scored numerous beautiful and impactful goals per season and contributed to his team’s positive results with outstanding performances overall.
His remarkable performances in the Eredivisie attracted the attention of several European clubs, and Milan was the club that showed the most interest in him.
His start with the Rossoneri was not really exceptional.
It was completely normal to get some time for adaptation, finding his best form, and getting familiar with a new, complicated league with different playing styles and mentalities.
That said, Reijnders did not take much time to start performing well for Milan.
He was intelligent enough to start performing well under Stefano Pioli’s coaching style quickly.
At the start of this season, Reijnders found even more freedom under Paulo Fonseca’s tactics.
The Portuguese manager gave him more attacking responsibilities, and the player himself began taking more initiative regarding shooting from a distance, particularly in terms of penetrations and ball carries from midfield.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will examine Reijnders’ roles and positions within Fonseca’s Milan and assess his goal-scoring skills.
The analysis will also cover the Dutch midfielder’s passing qualities and playmaking talent, as he is now Milan’s most dangerous passing threat.
Tijjani Reijnders Position & Roles At AC Milan
It is obvious that Reijnders is one of the most central players in AC Milan’s tactics at the moment.
In Paulo Fonseca’s formation of a 4-2-3-1 set-up, Reijnders forms a midfield duo alongside Youssouf Fofana, as both players complement each other well.
Fofana is more useful defensively, as he is very powerful in winning defensive duels and intercepting passes.
Reijnders gets a bit more freedom to advance more frequently and create numerical superiority inside the opponent’s half.
Suppose we combine these frequent attacking penetrations with the player’s excellent positioning with and without the ball.
In that case, we can understand why Reijnders’ impact in Milan is becoming increasingly valuable within the team.
As the following pizza map shows, Reijnders’ most remarkable role is key passing, as he provides 88.33% of dangerous passes per game, with an average of 65% accuracy in terms of passing.
Reijnders has already proved his abilities in this regard, as he provided many key passes between the lines, whether to players moving from the wings to the box or to players coming from the back and penetrating towards the box.
Moreover, his excellent dribbling skills, which have been particularly evident against Real Madrid lately, make Reijnders an even more unique midfielder.
He can pass defenders and win duels, relying on his flair, dribbles, and, more importantly, his remarkable pace.
Another role that Reijnders has mastered and has been progressively excellent at is shooting from a distance.
The pizza map also highlights this trait of Reijnders, as he has been scoring outstanding goals thanks to his shooting skills, with a goal contribution rate of 75% per game.
Therefore, if he maintains the same run of form, Reijnders has the potential to provide many assists and score many goals, especially if he gets more opportunities to shoot during the rest of the season.
Tijjani Reijnders Radar Map
Tijjani Reijnders Passing & Playmaking Abilities
As mentioned above, Reijnders is one of the best passers in Serie A.
He is expected to become even more crucial during the upcoming seasons as he gains more experience and maturity.
So far, he has provided a plethora of assists and key passes to his teammates at Milan, creating most of his team’s dangerous attacks and being central in counterattacks as well.
Moreover, he has been capable of taking set-pieces expertly, demonstrating that he masters crossing and significantly helps Milan in completing their set-piece plans successfully during games.
The following assist example in the Inter Milan Derby highlights Reijnders’ ability to provide pinpoint crosses towards the near post, which allowed Matteo Gabbia to score a decisive goal in a complicated game.
His passing techniques are varied enough to surprise opponents and create problems for any defence.
The following example shows Reijnders attempting a no-look pass at the back of the defensive line.
In this action, he exploited Fiorentina‘s high defensive block, enabling Rafael Leão to find himself alone in front of the goal.
Additionally, having the necessary vision to spot unmarked players and choose the optimal timing to provide his key passes makes Reijnders a sought-after player for any team.
With frequent movements towards the box from players like Morata, Leão, and Christian Pulisic, who are quick enough and very dynamic, Reijnders often finds a dangerous passing option and usually opts for the complicated yet dangerous vertical passes that break lines and meet the receiver in a perfect spot.
In the following example of an assist with the national Netherlands team, we see Reijnders attempting a perfect key pass between the lines of Scotland’s defence, putting the striker in an excellent goalscoring situation that requires only one touch to finish the action.
These kinds of passes make things easier for the team in attack and create solutions when things might look complicated, especially against teams that play excellent defensive football and resort to man-marking (like many Italian teams do).
Tijjani Reijnders Goalscoring Skills
Apart from his crucial passing and playmaking, Reijnders is known for his goal-scoring contributions, which he has been further developing at Milan.
The Dutch player scores in numerous manners and from various situations, relying on his exceptional shooting skills and efficient attacking positioning to receive key passes and finish actions accurately.
More importantly, his strong personality and ability to usually score on big occasions make Reijnders a unique midfielder and a threat to opposing defences, as he often succeeds in unlocking big games.
Recently, he put on an outstanding performance against Real Madrid, scoring a beautiful goal and contributing both defensively and offensively in the Rossoneri’s win.
The goal against Real Madrid was scored thanks to Reijnders’ initial dribble and ball protection when being pressed by two opponents.
He then found a way to pass the ball to Leão following his effort not to lose it.
Reijnders’ ball protection during that delicate situation and his ability to react quickly to his opponents’ disturbances made the attack possible, allowing Leão to find space on the left wing and attack it.
At the same time, Reijnders started his run towards the box immediately after providing the pass, knowing he could offer a passing option and finish the action.
This awareness and intelligence in quickly knowing his next move made him quicker than Real Madrid’s attempts to anticipate him.
It also allowed him to use a body feint against Antonio Rüdiger to escape his marking, receive the ball while being unmarked, and finish the action using her left foot.
In addition to his excellent penetrations and intelligent movements without the ball, Reijnders has exceptional shooting from-distance abilities that allow him to surprise any goalkeeper and score beautiful goals.
This goal, scored from an indirect free kick against Monza, highlights the player’s impressive shooting skills.
He combines power with precision to make many of his shots nearly impossible to save.
This shooting weapon represents a concrete goalscoring solution for Milan and the Netherlands, as Reijnders has already proven that he can score such goals, whether from open play or set pieces.
This goal against Cagliari, for instance, further confirms the midfielder’s ability to shoot successfully from open play.
He surprises goalkeepers and often shoots from difficult angles.
Moreover, arriving at the right time and in the perfect shooting spot most of the time makes Reijnders the best choice for the passer on most of Milan’s occasions, which eventually increases his goal-scoring rate.
Against Club Brugge, Reijnders scored two decisive goals for his team, mainly thanks to excellent positioning inside his opponent’s final third, which obliged Chukwueze and Okafor to provide assists.
In the following goal action, he came from behind at the right time.
He was better positioned than Pulisic to receive the pass and find the time needed for body coordination and shooting, which he did brilliantly.
Conclusion
As this Tijjani Reijnders analysis has shown, he has made significant progress over the last few seasons.
Reijnders is emerging as one of the most dangerous and efficient midfielders in Serie A and Europe.
With an excellent start to the season, Reijnders is expected to make a significant contribution to Milan’s success this season, both in Serie A and the UEFA Champions League.
He is also working on improving his defensive skills, which will be crucial in a formation like the 4-2-3-1.
