- New Manchester City signing Tijjani Reijnders was named aft erstwhile Super Eagles and Ajax winger Tijani Babangida
- Reijnders’ begetter named the subordinate aft being inspired by Babangida’s vocation during the Nigerian winger’s clip astatine Ajax
- Manchester City signed Reijnders from AC Milan for £46.3m, hoping helium strengthens their squad for the upcoming Club World Cup
Manchester City’s latest signing, Tijjani Reijnders, has drawn headlines not lone for his £46.3m determination from AC Milan but besides for the fascinating communicative down his name.
While the 26-year-old Dutch midfielder is expected to bolster the Cityzens’ squad for the FIFA Club World Cup, his Nigerian-sounding archetypal sanction has caught the attraction of football fans astir the world.

Source: Getty Images
Despite having nary Nigerian heritage, Reijnders’ archetypal name, Tijjani, is simply a tribute to a erstwhile Super Eagles winger, a motion to the dazzling bequest of Tijani Babangida, a Nigerian fable who erstwhile lit up the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax.
Inspired by a Nigerian shot legend
Born successful the Netherlands, Reijnders comes from a football-loving family.
According to Soccernet, his father, Martin Reijnders, was a nonrecreational striker who played for aggregate Dutch clubs successful a vocation spanning 2 decades.
But it was during the clip Martin and his woman followed Ajax Amsterdam that they encountered the brilliance of Babangida, the electrifying Nigerian winger.
So impressed were they with Babangida’s interaction astatine Ajax, wherever the Super Eagles fable scored 49 goals successful 175 appearances and helped the Dutch nine triumph the Eredivisie and 2 KNVB Cups, that they decided to sanction their lad aft him.
“There was a shot subordinate from Ajax, and his sanction was Tijani Babangida. My parents liked his archetypal name, truthful now, it’s me,” Reijnders said successful a video posted by the Soar Super Eagles’ X account.
A Dutch prima with an African Name
While Tijjani is not uncommon successful Islamic and West African communities, peculiarly among the Yoruba radical successful Nigeria, it is not typically recovered successful Dutch naming traditions.

Source: Getty Images
This made Reijnders’ sanction basal retired adjacent much erstwhile helium roseate to prominence successful Italy with AC Milan, sparking curiosity astir his origins.
However, the midfielder clarified that his sanction is purely a homage and not an denotation of African descent.
Ready for a caller section astatine Man City
Manchester City person acted rapidly to unafraid Reijnders up of the Club World Cup, pursuing an wounded to midfielder Mateo Kovacic, BBC reports.
Reijnders, who joined AC Milan successful 2023 from AZ Alkmaar, impressed successful his 2 seasons with the Serie A nine and is present acceptable to marque a people connected English football.
With his accomplishment and his singular name, Reijnders brings some prime and a unsocial backstory to the Etihad Stadium.
Man City fable leaves EPL club
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Manchester City fable Kevin De Bruyne is acceptable to statesman a caller section successful his illustrious career, having agreed presumption with Serie A champions Napoli up of the 2024/25 season.
While the woody is not yet finalised, aggregate sources corroborate that a last determination is expected successful the coming week pursuing the decision of the Premier League season.
The 33-year-old Belgian midfielder had earlier announced his volition to permission Man City astatine the extremity of the existent campaign, bringing an extremity to a trophy-laden decennary astatine the Etihad.
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Source: Legit.ng