Man City have already sent a ruthless title message - and one player sums up big change

Manchester City produced a statement performance on the opening weekend of the Premier League season as they thrashed Wolves 4-0 at Molineux.

Tijjani Reijnders was outstanding on his Premier League debut for Manchester City

Tijjani Reijnders couldn't have been much clearer when he was introduced as a Manchester City player during the Club World Cup. Before he had even kicked a ball for his new club, he laid out what he wasn't, rather than what he was.

"I'm not here to replace him," Reijnders said in Miami. The him being Kevin De Bruyne, of course. The Belgian might not have been at his best last season, but the end of his decade of brilliance in blue was inevitably going to leave a hole that needed filling.

In truth, nobody really thought Reijnders was the man to replace De Bruyne. The maverick qualities of Rayan Cherki looked the more likely bet to replace City's creative heart. Or even the already known qualities of Phil Foden, ready to bounce back after a difficult campaign of his own.

But at Molineux on the opening day of a season that was going to begin with so many questions swirling around the dethroned champions, it was Reijnders who did the best impression of De Bruyne. Goals, assists and a feather-lite touch worthy of a YouTube highlights reel. This was a statement performance on his Premier League debut.

After his double in Sicily last week, Guardiola described Reijnders as a "special player arriving into the box". After a game in Rodri's holding role in the Club World Cup, he has now landed in one of those No. 8 positions he had his eye on when he signed for the Blues.

This was a statement as to why he is so good in that position and why Mateo Kovacic and Nico Gonzalez are considered more likely fill-ins for Rodri than Reijnders. His forward passing, eye for goal and ability to run with the ball all stood out.

It was the 27-year-old who broke the game open on 34 minutes, suggesting that this season might just be different from the last. Until then, City had controlled proceedings without carving out a clear chance. There were clear shades of last term when they would look comfortable in games, struggle to finish them off, and then watch on as things spiralled away from them.

But although there were only four of City's eight 2025 arrivals in this opening weekend starting XI, it is a squad that is starting to change quite rapidly, and Reijnders banished any demons that might have been creeping in.

He got the ball rolling with a driving run through midfield before lifting a wonderfully delicate ball over the top for Rico Lewis. It was, inevitably on the opening day, Erling Haaland who applied the finishing touch, but he had the easiest task. The scale of contributions worked backwards, from Haaland's tap-in to Lewis' clever cross, which was only possible because of the class of Reijnders' work in the build-up.

The Netherlands international came alive as a midfielder capable of making a difference in the final third at AC Milan last season, and he is carrying that form into his City career. His left-footed finish to double the lead was devastating in both its accuracy and its simplicity.

His afternoon got better in the second half, when he brilliantly controlled James Trafford's pass into midfield, again drove forward into the Wolves half, swapped passes with Oscar Bobb and found the right pass to tee up Haaland for his second and City's third.

Rayan Cherki completed the rout, and the 21-year-old Frenchman might yet emerge as the star of City's class of 2025. But for now, it is Reijnders who is making the biggest difference.