Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund reach a deal for around £17 million for this star defender
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Manuel Akanji
Center-back Manuel Akanji, who is UK for a medical with the Premier League champions Manchester City, is acquired from Borussia Dortmund for £17 million. Pep Guardiola has not ruled out adding other players in the remaining days of the transfer window.
The agreement calls for a £15 million down payment with a further £1.7 million in add-ons. Manuel Akanji is already in the UK and prepared to go through a medical with City. Akanji, a Swiss international who was in the penultimate year of his Dortmund contract, has yet to play for the Bundesliga club this year.
Prior to Wednesday’s Premier League match against Nottingham Forest, City manager Pep Guardiola refused to rule out making additional acquisitions before the transfer deadline on Thursday. When questioned about potential future transfers, Guardiola responded:“I don’t know, I don’t know what will happen.”
According to sources in Italy, Akanji was a target for Inter Milan this summer. Dortmund reportedly wanted between £13 million and £17 million to sell him. Aymeric Laporte has yet to play this season due to injury, despite City’s roster having four senior centre backs. Nathan Ake, John Stones, and Ruben Dias have fought for playing time, but the latter is now injured.
Erling Haaland Convinced Manuel Akanji To Join Manchester City
From Basel to Dortmund in 2018, Akanji has been a consistent member of the first team. Last term, he made 36 appearances across all competitions. However, the 27-year-old has fallen further down the Dortmund hierarchy as a result of the summer transfers of Freiburg’s Nico Schlotterbeck and Bayern Munich’s Niklas Sule.
As former teammates at Dortmund, Erling Haaland and Akanji have persuaded the former Basel player to rejoin him at City, according to Manuel Veth, who also said that the transaction is almost finalised. He asserted that the Swiss player will be paid almost 11 million euros annually.
Akanji moved to Dortmund from Basel in 2018 and played 158 games over the course of four seasons. With the upcoming World Cup, he will be looking to secure a spot in the team as his own. Guardiola may have approved the transfer for another reason, which is that he will be happy to use John Stones and Ake at full-back.
Also Read: List of football clubs with the highest net spending in last decade
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Ujan Chakraborty
(1240 Articles Published)