Manchester City have officially confirmed the signing of defender Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund. The Swiss international has moved for a transfer fee of around £15m, and has put pen to paper a five-year contract that will keep him at the Etihad till the summer of 2027.
The move re-unites Akanji with Erling Haaland, his former team mate from Borussia Dortmund. Haaland has taken very little time to adapt to the Premier League and has scored hat tricks in his last two games against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest- the latter a twenty-six minute one as Pep Guardiola’s side crushed the league newbies 6-0 on Wednesday evening.
Akanji joined Dortmund from Basel in his native Switzerland back in 2018. He made close to 160 appearances for BVB during his time at Signal Iduna Park.
The 27-year-old is expected to be a backup central defender, but City’s history of injuries in that position, plus the number of competitions they are involved in, should see him get a fair bit of game time. They currently have Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Nathan Ake as CB options.
City are second in the league behind Arsenal, and will face struggling Aston Villa this weekend in the league.
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