Pundit Danny Murphy has claimed that Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji is better than Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell.
The Switzerland international ended his debut season at City by winning the treble and playing a prominent role in the team in doing so.
With the new Premier League campaign underway, one pundit has had his say on the City player and how he compares to another one of the league’s top defenders.
Murphy says he’d have Akanji over Chilwell
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy had this to say about Chilwell, who the west London club paid £50m for back in 2020, and Akanji when asked which Chelsea player would get into City’s current team.
He said: “The only player is maybe Chilwell, and to be honest, if you’re playing the way City play defensively, Akanji has played left-back against Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, some of the best wingers in the world and none of them had a kick. If I had a game tomorrow, I’d have Akanji.”
After arriving at the Etihad Stadium from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £15m, Akanji went on to make 48 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side across all competitions, featuring in numerous positions including left-back.
The 28-year-old has also completed the full 90 minutes of the Community Shield match against Arsenal and City’s opening league game of the season away at Burnley, which shows how important he is for Guardiola.
Having ended the previous Premier League campaign with the joint-highest passing accuracy percentage at City (93%), as well as winning more tackles (25), making more blocks (27) and making more recoveries (136) than any other defender at the club, this shows why Murphy has such a high opinion of him.
With that in mind, and the fact that Chilwell has been plagued with injuries since arriving at Stamford Bridge, it’s easy to see why Murphy would choose to play the City star over the Englishman.
