Man City Signs Manuel Akanji From Dortmund For £15 million

Man City Signs Manuel Akanji From Dortmund For £15 million

Manchester City, the defending Premier League champions, have completed the £15 million acquisition of defender Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund.

After agreeing to a five-year contract, Akanji becomes City’s fifth senior addition this summer after being signed.

To beat the transfer deadline, Sky Sports believes that City and Dortmund reached an agreement on Wednesday for a little more than £15 million.

Although he had not yet played for Dortmund this season and was in the final year of his contract, the Swiss international had played 158 times for the Bundesliga team since signing from Basel in 2018.

Aymeric Laporte will be out until September as he recovers from knee surgery for the Premier League champions, and Nathan Ake was substituted during their 3-3 draw at Newcastle on August 21 due to an injury.

For a combined cost of more than £100 million, City has already signed Erling Haaland, Stefan Ortega, Kalvin Phillips, and Sergio Gomez this summer.

In 2018, Akanji relocated from Basel to Dortmund and quickly became a regular member of the first team. The 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.

Akanji, who picked the number 25 shirt vacated by former City skipper Fernandinho said, “I am delighted to be here, and can’t wait to get started.”

“City has been one of the best teams in Europe over the last few seasons. They are brilliant to watch, play an exciting brand of football, and compete for trophies year in, and year out, so coming here feels like the perfect next step in my career.

“Pep Guardiola is an exceptional manager, and this is an exceptional squad of players, so this is an exciting opportunity for me.

“I am really looking forward to testing myself in the Premier League and I will do everything I can to help this club be successful.”