Tijjani Reijnders was named the best midfielder in الدوري الإيطالي last season, and if his stunning Premier League debut against Wolves is anything to go by he could well be on his way to scooping the PFA Player of the Season award this time next year.
ال مانشستر سيتي midfielder was the most expensive of the club’s wave of new summer recruits, but there will be no doubts among the club’s directors that the £46.3m ($62m) invested in him was money well spent after seeing him settle City’s nerves before guiding them to an emphatic 4-0 win over Vitor Pereira’s side.
But where does Reijnders’ exhibition at Molineux rank among the best Premier League debuts ever? BALLGM runs down the top 10:
Tijjani Reijnders was named the best midfielder in Serie A last season, and if hisstunning Premier League debut against Wolvesis anything to go by he could well be on his way to scooping the PFA Player of the Season award this time next year.
The Manchester City midfielder was the most expensive of the club’s wave of new summer recruits, but there will be no doubts among the club’s directors that the £46.3m ($62m) invested in him was money well spent after seeing him settle City’s nerves before guiding them to an emphatic 4-0 win over Vitor Pereira’s side.
But where does Reijnders’ exhibition at Molineux rank among the best Premier League debuts ever? بالجم runs down the top 10:
Cristiano Ronaldo famously moved to متحد من نادي سبورتينغ لشبونة after impressing Sir Alex Ferguson in a pre-season friendly. Several members of his squad urged the Scottish coach to sign Ronaldo after he repeatedly sprinted past John O’Shea on the left wing while showing off his dazzling dribbling ability.
United supporters were subsequently treated to those skills up close on August 16, 2003, as the Portugal star came off the bench for an electrifying cameo in a 4-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers. Ronaldo won a penalty shortly after coming on for David Beckham in the 61st minute, and he proceeded to terrorise the Bolton defence until the final whistle.
The forward played a key role in Ryan Giggs’ second goal of the game and embarked on several mazy runs that ended with United squandering clear chances, prompting United legend George Best to remark after the game: “It was undoubtedly the most exciting debut performance I’ve ever seen.”
Jurgen Klinsmann was one of the first foreign superstars to create a buzz in the Premier League following his £2m switch to Tottenham from Monaco in July 1994. The World Cup winner arrived in إنجلترا with a reputation as a deadly marksman, but was also criticised for his theatrics, which he made light of in his first press conference by asking: “Are there any diving schools in London?”
Klinsmann was handed his first appearance for Spurs against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, and marked the occasion by heading home the winning goal. The German nodded in Darren Anderton’s pinpoint cross to give the Lilywhites a 4-3 victory, and rubbed salt in Wednesday’s wounds by celebrating with a dive in front of the home supporters.
Alan Shearer’s place in the Premier League Hall of Fame has long been cemented. One-hundred-and-forty-eight of his 260 top-flight goals were scored in a Newcastle shirt, but arguably his two most memorable came on his debut for Blackburn Rovers following a then-British record £3.3m move from Southampton in 1992.
On the opening day of the newly formed Premier League, Shearer scored two spectacular long-range efforts away at Crystal Palace, and famously commented after the thrilling 3-3 draw: “If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.”
Anthony Martial arrived at United from Monaco on September 1, 2015, without much professional experience and a huge transfer fee to justify. The club’s decision to fork out a fee of £35m on a 19-year-old, which could potentially rise to £58m ($71m) in performance-related add-ons, was seen as a huge gamble, but the Frenchman silenced his doubters in his maiden outing.
Martial’s debut came against Liverpool, and he was thrown in at the deep end in the 65th minute of a tense contest at Old Trafford. A Daley Blind effort had given the hosts the lead, and Ander Herrera doubled their advantage from the penalty spot shortly after Martial’s introduction, only for Christian Benteke to haul Liverpool back into the game with a spectacular overhead kick.
The stage was set for Martial, who picked the ball up on the left wing with four minutes of normal time remaining and charged towards the box. He left Martin Skrtel bamboozled with a clever drop of the shoulder and fired coolly past goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to seal a 3-1 win.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had to wait a year before completing his dream move to مانشستر يونايتد after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury, but he quickly made up for lost time after finalising his £19m ($23m) transfer from PSV in August 2001.
The Dutchman took his bow against Fulham at Old Trafford, and initially watched on in horror as Louis Saha struck twice to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Van Nistelrooy’s moment eventually came in the 51st minute as he produced an inch-perfect dinked finish to draw the Red Devils level, and two minutes later he showed off his poaching instincts again to score the winner – becoming a new cult hero in the process.
Back in 2022, Premier League fans couldn’t wait to get their first glimpse of Erling Haaland in English football after he had demolished all sorts of records in his previous spells with Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Salzburg. There were some who felt the physicality and competitiveness of the so-called ‘best league in the world’ would slow him down and Haaland would need some time to adjust to the jump in the level, and his failure to score in the Community Shield against Liverpool seemed to back the doubters up.
As it turned out, Haaland wasted little time in embarrassing the naysayers with an emphatic Premier League debut for Manchester City at وست هام. The new signing won a penalty in the first half and calmly dispatched it before cheekily celebrating with his famous lotus pose. He was effectively saying ‘I’m here and you better get used to me’.
Haaland followed his penalty up with an expertly taken second goal, this time in open play, as he latched onto a through-ball from Kevin De Bruyne and calmly tucked it in with one swing of his left boot. It was a sign of things to come as Haaland went on to score a record 36 goals in his debut campaign and has continued to rip up the league’s history books with each passing campaign.
Federico Macheda was an unheralded inclusion in Manchester United’s squad for a crucial fixture against Aston Villa in April 2009 as the Red Devils closed in on a third-successive Premier League title. But by the time the match ended, the youngster had been immortalised by the Old Trafford faithful.
The Red Devils were 2-1 down when the Italian was introduced to the action with 30 minutes left, and after Ronaldo equalised in the 80th minute to lift the crowd, Macheda had the final say with only seconds remaining before full-time.
The 17-year-old, who had previously impressed in United’s academy ranks, produced a superb Cruyff turn after receiving a pass from Ryan Giggs on the edge of the box, wrong-footing Luke Young in the process.
Macheda was still some 20 yards out and only had the top right-hand corner of the net to aim at, but he found his spot in expert موضة with a magical curling effort, sparking wild scenes of celebration at the Theatre of Dreams.
Tijjani Reijnders had already impressed for City since signing from ميلان at the Club World Cup and in their solitary pre-season friendly win over Palermo, but he saved his best work for the real test, his Premier League bow.
Reijnders imitated Andres Iniesta’s trademark ‘croqueta’ dribble to dazzle two Wolves players in the build-up to Haaland’s opening goal before scoring himself with an arrowed first-time finish. He followed that up in the second half by setting up the third goal for Haaland by powering forward from midfield and playing a one-two with Oscar Bobb before laying the ball off for the Norwegian hitman to strike again.
Reijnders has said that he wants to learn from Ilkay Gundogan and he looks set to have a similar impact to the German while also helping soften the blow of Kevin De Bruyne’s departure at the Etihad Stadium.
Fabrizio Ravanelli moved to Middlesbrough in 1996 on the back of lifting the European Cup with Juventus, and quickly showed that his £7m price tag would be a bargain. The Italian scored three goals on his debut against Liverpool, all equalisers, as his team earned a 3-3 draw with the Merseysiders.
Ravanelli’s hat-trick goal was the pick of the bunch as he set himself in the box before producing an expert finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the net – and the celebrations that followed would never be forgotten by the fans that were in attendance at the Riverside that day.
Manchester City won the race to sign Sergio Aguero ahead of a host of top European sides in 2011, agreeing a £35m ($43m) deal with Atletico Madrid which would prove to be a steal. The Argentine became the club’s all-time record scorer over the next decade, with 184 of his 260 goals coming in the Premier League – the third-best tally in the competition’s history.
Aguero gave City fans a tantalising taste of what was to come on his debut against Swansea City as he scored with a trademark poacher’s finish shortly after being introduced as a substitute on the hour mark. He then provided an assist for David Silva before rounding off a 4-0 victory for City with a superb long-range strike, beating Swansea keeper Michael Vorm at his far post.
