Manuel Akanji

Manchester City are close to reaching an agreement with Borussia Dortmund for the purchase of Swiss centre-back Manuel Akanji, per David Ornstein.

It is entirely possible that Ake's recent injury has prompted the club to revaluate their need for an extra centre-back. [Joao Cancelo](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joao-cancelo/profil/spieler/182712) and Akanji capable of covering for [Kyle Walker](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/kyle-walker/profil/spieler/95424), who is unlikely to be starting every game this season due to his age. [Paris Saint Germain Want Bernardo Silva](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/transfer-rumours/report-psg-want-bernardo-silva) [Five Things We Learnt From Manchester City's Draw With Newcastle United](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/match-coverage/five-things-we-learnt-from-manchester-citys-draw-with-newcastle-united) [Manchester City Salvage A Point After Two Goal Setback](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/match-coverage/manchester-city-point-two-goal-setback) [Pep Guardiola Speaks On His Manchester City Future](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/news/pep-guardiola-speaks-on-his-manchester-city-future) [Dan Burn Believes Manchester City Are The Best Team In The World](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/match-coverage/dan-burn-believes-manchester-city-are-the-best-team-in-the-world) [Manchester City Will Never Be Manchester United Says Gary Neville](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/news/manchester-city-will-never-be-manchester-united-says-gary-neville) [Raheem Sterling Speaks On Leaving Manchester City](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/news/raheem-sterling-speaks-on-leaving-manchester-city) [Joao Cancelo Discusses Possibility Of Becoming A Winger](https://www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/news/joao-cancelo-discusses-possibility-of-becoming-a-winger) The addition of Gomez means that the club also have effective backup to Cancelo on the left side of the defence, should he need to cover for Walker. [David Ornstein](https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1564615897557471238), [Pol Ballus](https://twitter.com/polballus/status/1564616498039111681) and [Sam Lee](https://twitter.com/SamLee/status/1564616036321820685) of [The Athletic reporting ](https://theathletic.com/3549933/2022/08/30/manuel-akanji-manchester-city-dortmund/?source=emp_shared_article)that City are close to reaching an agreement with the Bundesliga club to acquire Akanji's services. Akanji will most likely be fifth choice for the club when they have a fully fit squad and it is incredibly unlikely that you are going to be able to convince a world-class player to take up that role. While many will point to the fact that Akanji hasn't exactly been an elite-level performer in his time with the German club, this seems like a fairly low-risk transfer for City and should provide them with added protection in terms of defensive depth. The Athletic's report states that City believe that a fee of around €17.5million should be enough for Dortmund to part with the defender. And Akanji could prove to be a low-cost backup option for The Cityzens as the Swiss centre-back is heading into the last year of his contract with Dortmund, leaving the selling club with very little leverage in the negotiations as they risk losing the player on a free transfer next summer. [Sergio Gomez](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sergio-gomez/profil/spieler/366930) two weeks ago, but reports stating the club are now close to signing [Akanji](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manuel-akanji/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/284730) have seemingly emerged from out of nowhere. [Aymeric Laporte](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/aymeric-laporte/profil/spieler/176553) still in the process of recovering from knee surgery. [Josko Gvardiol](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/josko-gvardiol/profil/spieler/475959), [Pau Torres](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/pau-torres/profil/spieler/399776) and [Jules Kounde](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jules-kounde/profil/spieler/411975) (who eventually signed for Barcelona) but Akanji's name was never one that was mentioned as a potential target.

City are looking for defensive reinforcements following injuries to Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte.

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Manchester City are close to an agreement with Borussia Dortmund for defender Manuel Akanji. Negotiations between the two clubs are ongoing over a ...

[Aymeric Laporte](https://theathletic.com/football/player/aymeric-laporte-Q4uhweZJfdqmC41v/) has yet to make an appearance this season due to injury. [Bundesliga](https://theathletic.com/football/bundesliga/) club with the summer arrivals of Niklas Sule from Bayern Munich and Nico Schlotterbeck from Freiburg. [Manchester City](https://theathletic.com/football/team/manchester-city/) are close to an agreement with [Borussia Dortmund](https://theathletic.com/football/team/dortmund/) for defender Manuel Akanji.