Tijjani Reijnders Tells Tijjani: “You Really Need to Get a Job”

What were you doing at 19? For Tijjani Reijnders, the answer was far from glamorous. While teammates at Manchester City were already making names for themselves in elite football, Reijnders was working a cashier job at Aldi in Zwolle, the Dutch city where he grew up. He rode his bike to the store after school, stocked shelves, and scanned groceries, all while wondering whether his football dream would ever come true.

Reijnders said the turning point came when he was struggling at PEC Zwolle, where he initially failed to break into the team. His father, a former professional player and coach, offered blunt criticism after watching him train, telling him he was not working hard enough. His mother, usually the family’s softer voice, backed that assessment. Reijnders said the tough love pushed him to train harder, run more, and take football more seriously.

His path was shaped by family, sacrifice, and long hours. As a child, he and his brother trained at FC Twente, with their parents driving them to the club before dawn. Later, when PEC Zwolle could not immediately take him back, Reijnders spent a year playing in the Dutch fourth division under his father, a period he says helped him keep his love for the game alive. He described those lower-league matches as muddy, physical, and demanding, but also formative.

After returning to Zwolle and improving his work rate, Reijnders earned a move to AZ Alkmaar. The start of his professional career was still difficult, as he spent two years with the club’s second team and had to wait for first-team opportunities. A loan spell at RKC Waalwijk gave him a reset, and in the following season he began scoring more often after making a bet with his father over shots on target. He eventually helped AZ reach European qualification, a milestone celebrated by his family in Amsterdam.

Reijnders’ rise accelerated when AC Milan came calling. He described a memorable recruitment call from Italy, taken while on holiday in Zanzibar during a safari dinner, with buffalo nearby and his phone battery nearly dead. After joining Milan, he was struck by the scale of the club, the fans, and San Siro’s atmosphere. He admitted he briefly wondered whether the move was too big, but soon felt it was exactly what he had worked for.

That dream expanded further when he earned his first call-up to the Netherlands national team, a moment he connected to childhood memories of watching Dutch football stories on TV. Around the same time, he became a father, saying the birth of his son, Xavién, changed his perspective and improved his focus on the pitch.

Reijnders then completed another major step by moving to Manchester City, where he said he has been learning from Pep Guardiola and training alongside stars such as Erling Haaland. He praised City’s standards, Guardiola’s tactical detail, and Haaland’s relentless discipline. Reijnders also said fatherhood has changed how he handles football, helping him leave bad games behind more quickly.

Now at City, Reijnders says he feels grateful for the journey from Aldi cashier to Champions League-level midfielder, from a boy told to work harder to a player living the dream he once imagined.