00:00 Tijani Reinders
00:02 Exactly as you heard
00:04 that's how the new Dutch midfielder of Milan is pronounced
00:08 But if Reinders, the same surname of Papa Martin,
00:12 is first of all similar to his Netherlands
00:15 the name is of Persian origin
00:18 Al-Tijani is an Arabic word that means "in coronation"
00:23 like the one he had very early in the heart of Milan's midfield
00:26 It is mainly found in Nigeria, compared to any other country in the world
00:32 That's why the name Tijani may seem unusual to many if you bring a Dutchman
00:37 and in the end it is, but it perfectly represents the bond of the Reinders family with football
00:44 In fact, Father Martin decided to call him that in honour of the Nigerian Tijani Babangida
00:53 who in his first part of his career in Holland
00:56 wore the shirts of VVV Vemlo, Roda, Ajax and Vitesse between 1991 and 2002
01:06 A profound Dutch football fan, the journalist and former team manager of the Ajax of the golden years, David Ent,
01:13 is telling us about the actions of Tijani Babangida
01:17 Tijani Babangida was a young Nigerian player, 18 years old
01:25 He was discovered by the president of Roda J.C. of Kerkrade in Holland
01:31 He was a small but very fast player, with a deadly shot
01:38 and he also knew how to score, he played on the right wing
01:43 In 1996 he was bought by Ajax, playing with Jari Littmannen, the De Boer brothers,
01:55 Danny Blind and Wim van der Sar
01:58 and he took the place of the national goalkeeper Finidi George, who had gone to Spain
02:07 The name Tijani is not often found in Holland, and so Martin Reinders's father had a modest career as a professional
02:19 and with the ok of his mother gave the name Tijani to his firstborn
02:26 He had played 36 games with his national team, the Nigerian Tijani Babangida
02:32 Before his arrival in Milan, Tijani Reinders had never worn the Dutch national shirt
02:39 But if this happened, if Tijani was called for the first time by the national team in Orange,
02:45 it probably happened because from the first minute he wore the red and black shirt,
02:50 in Pasadena, on 24 July 2023 against Real Madrid, at the beginning of the summer tour in Milan,
02:56 it seemed that he had always worn that shirt
03:00 This is exactly his modernity, as shown by the real technical skill of Stefano Pioli
03:07 Reinders is a complete midfielder, with great vision of the game, technical ability and ability to move in free spaces
03:19 He is a player who can help us in construction, as well as in finishing and also in the finalization
03:26 I expect from him some more insertion and some more conclusions
03:32 because he has the potential to prove that he can stay at that level here
03:37 I think that the call for a prestigious national team like the Dutch one has also been deserved
03:43 A pride for Milan, acquiring not players already consecrated by their national teams,
03:49 but training and forging them for the big leap
03:53 The one at the beginning of the season, 2023-2024, was also on the human and family level
03:58 a great moment for the former midfielder Azed Alkmaar
04:03 Tijani and his wife Marina are in fact in sweet anticipation
04:07 The announcement was given by the Milan player and the future mother with a video on Instagram
04:12 embracing the affection of the team mates and all the followers
04:16 A beautiful and transparent story, that of Tiji Reinders,
04:19 started on the fields of Dutch youth football, as David Ent still remembers
04:25 I saw him play when he was 15 years old, alone
04:29 then he moved to AZ, which was a surprise
04:34 because he was doing well in the juniors
04:37 and he is an obvious boy, you can see that he is fit and technically gifted
04:43 I didn't think at that time that he could go to AZ
04:49 and he grew up in AZ, where he played with the juniors
04:54 then the second team that plays in the Netherlands in Serie B
04:58 so he has grown up a lot, technically good, also quite elegant as a player
05:07 but now this step is really amazing
05:14 for him and for AZ it is a great honor to have a Serie A player, it is not a small thing
05:22 Tijani Reinders loves to travel, play padel and talk to his father Martin
05:28 he hears it 4-5 times a day
05:31 after when he was a boy he had to pay his parents' pension
05:35 if by chance he missed a shot in goal in the training sessions he did with his brother
05:39 today there is a great relationship
05:42 he knows a lot about family, the meaning of football and the life of Tijani
05:46 he will become a young father at 25 years old and his horizon are his parents
05:50 a quiet boy who at the end of his debut in the Champions League between Milan and Newcastle
05:55 hugs his coach Stefano Pioli as if it were an extra affection
05:59 in addition to the others who animate his daily life
06:02 but be careful, as often happens, there are not only roses and flowers in football
06:07 Tijani is the son of a football pervaded by particular tensions
06:11 unfortunately for anti-Semitic reasons the most extreme fans of AZ's curve of Alkmaar
06:16 are rivals of Amsterdam's Ajax and its fans
06:19 but it is precisely from Ajax that many Dutchmen have arrived
06:22 who have been able to make history of the Red and Black jersey
06:25 directly from Amsterdam to Milan
06:27 as in the case of Marco Van Basten, Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger, Patrick Kluivert
06:33 and Urbi Emanuelson, Italian champion with Milan in 2011
06:37 while others are from Ajax
06:40 even if they arrived in the Red and Black from other clubs
06:42 such as Clarence Eddorf, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Nigel de Jong
06:47 in this sense Reinders is the first player in history to go from AZ to Milan
06:52 and also for this reason Tigi wants to create a good precedent
06:55 the culture and modernity of his football school deserve it
06:59 as David Ent underlines
07:01 which lists all the reasons why it is not a coincidence
07:04 that players of this fabric are forged precisely from the AZ school
07:09 It is a very modern school based on data
07:13 but not only, also the number of players
07:16 but also the interest from the boys of 9 years
07:23 who grow up in a modern school
07:26 a new force in the Netherlands
07:29 because after Tidjani Reinders
07:33 there are also 3 or 4 others
07:35 emerging from the AZ football school
07:39 It is not by chance that London 19
07:43 became European champion
07:45 and won the Champions League and the Youth League
07:49 It is not by chance, because for a few years
07:54 these teams from the youth sector
07:58 are doing very well in the Netherlands
08:02 It is really an example of seriousness, modernity
08:07 and also the ability of the coaches
08:11 I must also say that in the traditional clubs
08:17 like Ajax or Feyenoord
08:20 there is much more stress than in the AZ team
08:26 so the atmosphere is more familiar
08:29 and I think that this also helps to grow the players
08:34 in a balanced environment
08:37 Thank you!
08:40 Thank you for watching!
08:43 Thank you for watching!
08:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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