Manuel Akanji could come up against his former club Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, just weeks after leaving to join Manchester City.
The 27-year-old made the switch late in the transfer window without much speculation in the media beforehand. Akanji spoke about how fast his move came about, revealing the entire deal was completed in a matter of days.
Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund: What will the outcome be?
Man City to win
Draw
Dortmund to win
He told The Athletic: “I had a lot of talks with my agent and there were some offers but nothing felt right until the point where City came to me and then it was clear that I wanted to do this.
“The move to City started the weekend before the transfer deadline. In a couple of days, it all went through. That’s why none of the media knew, because it happened all of a sudden.”
Akanji made 158 appearances in all competitions for Dortmund, spending four years at the Signal Iduna Park, so Pep Guardiola signed a player with a lot of experience domestically and in Europe.
He impressed in his debut as City thrashed Sevilla 4-0 in their first Champions League group game and will hope to follow that up with a solid performance against his old employers.
Guardiola will have a difficult task to keep all his centre-backs happy with Akanji joining Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte, but Stones and Laporte are still recovering from respective injuries so they aren’t 100%.
When all five players are fully fit, it remains to be seen who will get the nod, but Akanji hasn’t put a foot wrong so far.