Manchester City make late move to sign Manuel Akanji from Dortmund

To complete a potential fifth summer acquisition, Manchester City is nearing an agreement with Borussia Dortmund to sign defender Manuel Akanji.

The Premier League winners have started to show interest in the center back, and their last-minute approach comes after he was linked to Arsenal earlier in the transfer window.

The 27-year-old is in the final year of his contract at Signal Iduna Park and the clubs are negotiating a £17.5 million transfer for him. The negotiations are thought to be going well.

When asked on Tuesday if City were still open to doing business, Pep Guardiola refused to rule it out and responded, “I don’t know what will happen.”

Ruben Dias, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, and Nathan Ake provide City a strong lineup at center defense, but the latter two are both dealing with injuries.

With this in mind, it is understood that none of the four will be sold to make room for the arrival of the Switzerland international who has 41 caps.

Akanji joined Dortmund from Basle a year after making his international debut in 2017, and he played 36 games for the first squad in the previous season.

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He has yet to play this season due to the summer arrivals at Dortmund, which include Niklas Sule from Bayern Munich and Nico Schlotterbeck from Freiburg. He has since lost his spot in the team as a result.

Three players, including new star striker Erling Haaland, English defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips, and left-back Sergio Gomez from Anderlecht, have already cost City £110 million.

Akanji would also team up with backup goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who joined on a free transfer, and Julio Alvarez

Who joined City earlier this year after spending the first half of 2022 on loan at his former team River Plate