Manuel Akanji is impressing for Manchester City, five years since Liverpool considered him as a Virgil van Dijk alternative.
City were in devastating form on Sunday afternoon as they destroyed rivals Manchester United 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium.
Erling Haaland was – somewhat unsurprisingly – the star of the show as he racked up a hat-trick as well as two assists.
Phil Foden secured an assist of his own as City ran riot in front of goal before taking their foot off the gas.
Haaland has made the headlines, but City’s other summer signing from Borussia Dortmund is shining too.
Manuel Akanji is impressing for Manchester City
Defender Manuel Akanji followed Haaland in making the move from Dortmund to the Etihad Stadium.
City paid just £15million to lure Akanji away from Dortmund after the Bundesliga club signed two new defenders in Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck.
Akanji was seen as ideal competition for the likes of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake, with City defenders regularly picking up injury problems.
The Swiss ace has made a real impression so far and turned in another fine performance against United.
The Manchester Evening News rated Akanji at 9/10 for his performance against the Red Devils, behind only Foden and Haaland.
They even suggested that Akanji may be the bargain of the summer having made such a big impression in the heart of the City back line.
Akanji’s pace was just perfect to try and deal with United’s counter-attacking ability and he registered two tackles, two clearances and even two dribbles as he showed his ability on the ball.
The praise for Akanji is coming from pundits too with Robbie Earle telling NBC Sports that Akanji was ‘sneaky good business’ for City thanks to his athleticism, reliability and ability to stride out from the back, naming him as his Underappreciated Player of the Week.
City will certainly feel like they have struck a great deal and it comes years after Akanji was wanted by rivals Liverpool.
The Independent reported in 2017 that Liverpool had picked out Akanji as a key target if they couldn’t sign Virgil van Dijk.
Van Dijk ended up signing mere days later and Akanji went to Dortmund instead, who were named in that report as being Liverpool’s rivals for the Swiss star.
Van Dijk has of course gone on to become one of the finest Premier League defenders ever whereas Akanji blew hot and cold at Dortmund.
Now finally given a chance to shine in the Premier League, Akanji is showing his quality – and would no doubt love to become City’s very own Van Dijk if he can continue his impressive start.
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