‘Absolutely unreal’ – Kevin De Bruyne hails Man City luck after £15m signing

Manuel Akanji has been declared “absolutely unreal” by a Manchester City teammate after hitting the ground running at his new club.

Akanji himself was surprised that he ended up at the Premier League champions on deadline day, having expected to remain at Dortmund before the Blues came in with a surprise offer the week before the window ended.

City U-turned on their initial plans when they revised their depth at centre-back with so many injuries, and faced no competition from Europe’s leading clubs to land the Swiss international on a £15m deal.

Pep Guardiola has started Akanji in all four games that he has been available for, including the Manchester derby on Sunday where he put in another terrific performance in the 6-3 win.

Afterwards, the 27-year-old expressed his unhappiness at the way the team had conceded three goals in another sign that he has what it takes to thrive at the Etihad.

City players have certainly been impressed by Akanji’s start, with Kevin De Bruyne labelling him unreal after the derby. With Aymeric Laporte also making his first appearance of the season after injury, the Blues are in a strong position despite John Stones and Kyle Walker both being sidelined with problems.

“He’s been absolutely unreal,” said the City skipper. “He came in, didn’t train much and played absolutely great. It feels like he’s been playing with us for a while.

“To have five centre-backs of the quality that we have, we are lucky. We will need them because we have seen that injuries can happen.”

Akanji was hardly the most exciting signing City made in the summer. Understandably, much of the attention was on Haaland’s arrival. Meanwhile, fans were pleased about the additions of Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips.

Akanji had had a good spell with Borussia Dortmund. However, he was hardly considered one of the elite centre-backs in Europe during his time at Westfalenstadion.

Meanwhile, Ake has had to bide his time since moving to the Etihad Stadium.

Akanji’s ability to stride out from the back made it seem like he had already made many more appearances for the club.

Certainly, he proved a real point with his performance as City put on a clinic for the large majority of the derby.