Manuel Akanji reveals role played by Erling Haaland in Man City transfer from Borussia Dortmund

Manuel Akanji has detailed a conversation he had with Erling Haaland before he sealed his deadline day switch to Manchester City.

It was claimed on Tuesday that Erling Haaland played a major role in the deal that will take Manuel Akanji to the Etihad this summer.

The 27-year-old today has signed a five-year deal with City which keeps him at the Club until the summer of 2027.

Akanji knows Haaland well from their time together at Signal Iduna Park and the Swiss has revealed that the free-scoring striker was the first person to text him once the deal came to light.

“He [Haaland] was actually the first one who texted me,” he said, as quoted by Manchester Evening News

“It was a couple of days ago he texted me and that’s when I told him I would really like to come here. And also Sergio Gomez, I play with him as well in Dortmund.”

Akanji has plenty of experience coming up against Haaland in training and he explained why the big Norwegian is so difficult to play against. “He has an amazing combination of skills,” he continued.

“He is fast and physically very strong, but he is also technically skilful. With the combination of both, he is a striker very difficult to stop. The way he uses his body makes him very hard to stop him. He keeps on working on his skills, he is still young and has so many years in front of him, but I think he will only get better.”