Football365
Pep Guardiola has suggested that Manuel Akanji “perfectly sits” Manchester City following his arrival from Borussia Dortmund on deadline day.
The Premier League champions have had a very busy summer, with Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinehcnko all moving on. Erling Haaland has lead the arrivals.
Kalvin Phillips, Stefan Ortega and Sergio Gomez also joined Man City before Akanji was brought in on deadline day from Dortmund for around £15m.
Guardiola has welcomed the 27-year-old’s acquisition after injuries to Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake highlighted the need for central defensive reinforcements.
“We had four incredible central defenders before Manu but sometimes Ayme had tough injuries,” the City boss said.
“He’s getting better but a month or month and a half still there (sidelined).
“Nathan had in the last month some concerns about muscular problems, so we’ve just had two central defenders with this incredibly busy schedule that we have ahead of us.
“We had an opportunity to bring one player, only a year left on his contract in Dortmund, with a lot of experience in Germany and the national team with Switzerland.
“He suits perfectly what we need. He’s fast and really good in the build-up.
“We knew it, we felt it, when we played against Dortmund two or three seasons ago and, yeah, very pleased he’s here and good competition for central defenders.”
Ake could be in line for a return to action in Saturday evening’s trip to Aston Villa, with Guardiola saying he – along with ex-Villa star Jack Grealish – “trained really well” on Thursday after injury.
Phillips has yet to return and City centre-back Laporte is unlikely to be back from a knee injury until October…
