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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about his new signings after the 3-0 friendly win over Palermo
Pep Guardiola hailed Tijjani Reijnders as a 'special player' after the Dutch international bagged two goals off the bench in a 3-0 win over Palermo.
Reijnders fell over his own feet in the six-yard box to miss the chance to claim a hat-trick, but had already done enough to make it a comfortable night for Manchester City against their Italian hosts.
A £46m summer signing from AC Milan, Reijnders spoke on arriving at the club about how he had worked on improving his finishing in the last two years to make him a better player. Goals from runners is something City sorely missed last season as their creative output dried up to leave them too reliant on Erling Haaland's goals.
Reijnders has looked the pick of the summer signings so far, and Guardiola is impressed at what he has seen having had high expectations when they brought him in. City manager praised the three summer buys for their performances in the 3-0 victory, as well as singling out Abdukodir Khusanov for his first-half display.
"We knew that he is a special player arriving into the box. He loves to do that," said Guardiola of Reijnders.
"People in Italy know him perfectly. He scored two goals and he made a fantastic performance like the rest of his mates.
"He can play as a holding midfielder but he loves to arrive to the box to help our strikers like Erling and Omar and anyone who plays there. Really pleased.
"Energy can help but it’s not everything. He played at Milan, in Italy and with Holland so he knows.
"He’s experienced. He’s 27. The three signings we have done before the World Cup were really good - [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait Nouri and him.
"The same with Khusanov in January. He showed his potential today and he is one of the fastest players I have seen.
"We haven’t played many games, we’ve trained well but now we’ll go back to Manchester, try to make a good week and prepare the games."
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