Manuel Akanji’s Manchester City future clarified amid deadline day exit talk | OneFootball

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji is facing an uncertain deadline day as the defender’s representatives weigh up exit options ahead of Monday’s 7PM (UK) transfer deadline, as per reports.

Akanji has attracted interest from several sides in the Premier League and across Europe in the final weeks of the summer transfer window, with Manchester City valuing the centre-half at around £15 million.

The 30-year-old, who joined City from Borussia Dortmund on the final day of the 2022 summer transfer window, has won two Premier League titles as well as the UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles over three years in England.

However, Manchester City are well stocked in defence and have even allowed January signing Vitor Reis to join Girona on loan for the 2025-26 campaign, with Pep Guardiola demanding a streamlined, cutthroat squad to manage after a busy transfer window at the Etihad Stadium.

John Stones is staying at Manchester City into the final year of his contract, with Ruben Dias recently signing a long-term deal that will keep the 28-year-old Portugal international at the club till the end of the 2028-29 season.

Akanji – like Dias, Ake and Stones – struggled for fitness and consistency in form last season, which was by far and away Manchester City’s most underwhelming year under Guardiola, with the Blues only finishing in third place in the Premier League with 71 points and exiting the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 stage.

However, Guardiola has repeatedly insisted in press conferences that he does not want to work with a bloated squad and that has been the hallmark of Manchester City’s massive first-team squad exodus this summer, with Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and James McAtee leaving permanently.

City have also sanctioned loans for Reis (Girona), Claudio Echeverri (Bayer Leverkusen), summer signing Sverre Nypan (Middlesbrough) and Jack Grealish (Everton), with director of football Hugo Viana spearheading a long summer of incomings and outgoings that is set to witness further upheaval on deadline day.

Ed Aarons of Guardian Sport had reported that Akanji’s camp remained open to a possible departure from Manchester City on deadline day, but it was looking increasingly likely at the time that the Switzerland international, who has two years left on his current contract, would be staying put.

However, follow-up reporting and a flurry of details from Italian media has since detailed a move to Inter Milan on an initial €2 million loan move, with a further €15 million valuation on an option to buy at the end of the current campaign.

Manchester City continued their underwhelming start to the 2025-26 campaign with their second defeat in three Premier League games on Sunday, with Brighton and Hove Albion overturning a one-goal deficit to claim all three points against Guardiola’s men on the south coast.

City need as many leaders in the dressing room to challenge for major trophies this season and after the departure of several senior figures in what has been a crossroads summer for Guardiola and co, they need as many experienced players around the place as they can get.

Akanji’s ability to fill in at right-back – as with Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov, both of whom started in central defence at the Amex Stadium on Sunday – is appreciated by Guardiola and may have helped the Swiss defender’s prospects for minutes after Walker’s departure to Burnley in the summer.