Manuel Akanji was one of Manchester City’s most important players last season as the club went on to win an historic Treble – but the defender has just been on the end of an outrageous snub.
2023 was a year to remember for City fans, as Pep Guardiola delivered a Premier League title, FA Cup and Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
One of the main reasons City had such a successful year was because they were so solid at the back.
The conversion of John Stones to a hybrid defender-midfielder was a masterstroke from the manager, but all the defenders were absolutely bang at it, giving the attackers the platform to flourish.
Someone who perhaps wasn’t quite as revered as Stones was Manuel Akanji, who joined the club at the start of the season for £15 million from Borussia Dortmund.
Fans didn’t really expect too much from him, with many feeling he would simply be a rotation option.
But Akanji proved everyone wrong, going on to become an absolutely vital player for Guardiola.
The star made a whopping 48 appearances across all competitions for City, for a total of 3809 minutes – no defender played more minutes than this.
During the course of the season, Akanji operated all across the backline for City. He played in the middle, on the right and sometimes deputised out on the left and it didn’t matter where he was – he would always shine.
Back in May, when Arsenal came to the Etihad and lost, Gary Neville stated that he was ‘amazed’ that Akanji was deployed on the left, but admitted he ‘kept (Bukayo) Saka as quiet as anybody I’ve seen’.
Underrated Man City star Manuel Akanji misses out on Swiss Footballer of the Year award
The Swiss Footballer of the Year was announced earlier this week, and City fans might have thought Akanji would be in with a good chance. He was among three nominees, the other two being Zeki Amdouni and Granit Xhaka.
But it was not to be for the City man, with the award being won by Bayer Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka.
Xhaka had a pretty good 2023. The captain of the Switzerland national team was one of Arsenal’s players in the second half of last season and this term, he has been in fantastic form at Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso, with the German outfit still unbeaten this season.
Surely though, Akanji – described last season as ‘unbelievable’ by Sam Allardyce – deserved to win the award as a crucial player in a Treble-winning side, and a team that has won two more trophies this season – the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup, with Akanji featuring in both.
Really, it is outrageous for him to be overlooked for all the contributions he made, playing lots of different positions, and it just unfortunately shows how underrated he still is.
