OUT THE DOR Man City confirm £15m Manuel Akanji transfer from Borussia Dortmund as Pep Guardiola shores up defence

PEP GUARDIOLA has completed his summer spending by snapping up Borussia Dortmund centre back Manuel Akanji for a fee of £15million.

Posted Friday, September 02, 2022 by Thesun.co.uk

The 27-year-old Swiss international was at the Etihad on Wednesday to undergo a medical and put the finishing touches to his move.

OUT THE DOR Man City confirm £15m Manuel Akanji transfer from Borussia Dortmund as Pep Guardiola shores up defence
Akanji joins City in a £15m transfer from Dortmund Credit: Instagram @mancity

And he has signed a five-year deal – keeping him with the champions until summer 2027.

Manchester City believe they have acquired a top centre-back for a bargain price as he was into the final 12 months of his deal with the German club.

He will compete with Pep Guardiola’s current pool of centre-backs – Ruben Dias, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake.

Akanji said: “I am delighted to be here and can’t wait to get started.

"City have 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, year out, so coming here feels like the perfect next step in my career.

"This is an exciting opportunity for me.”

Akanji – who has 41 caps for his country - played 158 games for Dortmund after joining them from Basel in 2018.

He follows former team-mate Erling Haaland who agreed to join City in May and has made a spectacular start to life in the Premier League.

Director of football Txiki Begiristain said: “Manuel has everything we want in a centre-back.

"He is strong, quick, comfortable in possession, has an excellent passing range and he will complement the other defenders in this team and our style of play.”

"Manuel has plenty of experience playing at the top level of European football and we are confident he will be a valuable addition to our squad.”

He is the sixth new face to link up with Guardiola’s squad this summer following Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Stefan Ortega, Julian Alvarez and Sergio Gomez.