No Wirtz, no problem... Pep can Reijn again with Tijjani

MANCHESTER CITY'S plan was for Florian Wirtz to take the playmaker crown worn by Kevin De Bruyne for the last decade - instead Tijjani Reijnders has staked the claim to become the new King of the Etihad.

- SIMON MULLOCK

The Dutchman marked his Premier League debut with a stunning first-half goal after a quite outrageous flash of skill had enabled Rico Lewis to set up Erling Haaland for the kind of close-range finish he dreams about in his sweetest of slumbers.

Reijnders then punctured Wolves' growing threat after the break by serving up a cross for Haaland to lash home another.

This was the player Pep Guardiola turned to after Wirtz decided he preferred Merseyside to Manchester.

He didn't come cheap at £46million. But you wouldn't expect the man voted the best player in Serie A last season to have a two-bob price-tag and it did cost Liverpool more than twice as much to land the Kops new favourite German.

It shouldn't have been a surprise either that a talent nurtured in the land of Johan Cruyff produced a performance that reeked of Total Football.

Reijnders was everywhere, putting a foot in alongside midfield shield Nico Gonzalez one minute; racing beyond the ball to offer support to Haaland the next.