Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji was Pep Guardiola’s unsung hero last season.
Having secured their fifth Premier League title in six years, in addition to the FA Cup and the Champions League, the Citizens had an unforgettable campaign.
One player that, we feel, ended up playing a significant part in the club’s success that deserves significant praise is Akanji.
Akanji had a sparkling debut season with City
Signed from Borussia Dortmund back in September in a deal worth a reported fee of £15m, the centre-back quickly became an important part of City’s team, ultimately appearing in 48 matches across all competitions.
He even scored his first goal for the club in one of their most important games of the campaign, the 4-0 win over Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium.
As well as that, the Switzerland international showed how much of a well-rounded player he is and why the club were right in adding him to their ranks.
For example, with 29 league appearances to his name, the 27-year-old ended the campaign with the joint-highest passing accuracy percentage (93%) at City alongside John Stones.
Akanji also ended up making more blocks (27) and winning more tackles (25) than any other defender in Guardiola’s squad.
Back in October, not long after the centre-half arrived at the Etihad, Guardiola said that the former Dortmund figure is a “magnificent” player, which shows that it didn’t take him that long to impress the City boss.
Even though Stones found himself on the end of some much-deserved praise for his efforts in the season, particularly in the later months as he found himself playing in a midfield role, we feel that because it was his first season in England and he showed he could also be versatile by featuring in different defensive positions, Akanji should be seen as City’s unsung hero.
