Manuel Akanji | City close to £15m agreement, 5 year contract

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kupest said:
So sign a player for one game? Except for a 3 CB system, I can't see us keeping all 5 happy. One of Ake, Stones and Akanji is going to go into the next summer not at all happy with their playing time.
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No but there were points at the end of last season where we had 2 or 3 fit centre backs and we were desperate to rotate them or we had no full back and had to use a centre back there.

This also gives us extra cover at full back as it frees up Stones and Ake.
 
1Basti said:
we pay £15m for a player who might be playing in case 2 or 3 other guys are injured..seems Mbete or the other CBs on loan/EDS/CFG aren`t rated at all..
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He's better not to mention more experienced than Mbete or anyone in our system at present and at 15M- it's a good investment. IMO it means we're more injured than we let on- or- Pep is really going to give 3 at the back a go.
 
kupest said:
So sign a player for one game? Except for a 3 CB system, I can't see us keeping all 5 happy. One of Ake, Stones and Akanji is going to go into the next summer not at all happy with their playing time.
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I get what you are saying. I think Ake will probably be sold next summer anyway. I think we are just bringing his replacement 1 year early. Mainly because of injury issues at the back.

That said, i gotta believe Pep can make use of all 5 CB's even if they all manage to stay fit. Wouldn't at all be surprise to see more of the back 3 formation Pep used against Palace after Cancelo went off. Akanji's pace could be helpful in a similar way Walker's is.
 
He came from the mountains of white chocolate and snow
With his transfer fee at an all time low.
Man UTD want to sign but the fee is way to cheap
A player like Akanji they would not want to keep.
A Swiss international, big, quick and strong.
The Viking recommends him so what could go wrong.

Words to the Immigrant song.
 
chaddblue said:
Not quite sure why we need 5 centre halves
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Stones, Aké and Laporte seem to pick up quite a few injuries, plus we play over 60 games and have a World Cup stuck in the middle of the season. And our squad is way too small.

Hopefully we get this guy signed and he turns out decent. If he’s quick and over 6ft then he should do ok as a defender.
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
Don’t see the point in this signing. How do we keep 5 centre backs happy?
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3 at the back. At least 1 likely injured for every game the rate were going anyway- so in that case not an issue if we only play a standard 2 center half defense.

3 at the back maximizes our ability to have more creative wing backs- and (hopefully) jettisons the inverted fullback potion Pep has been under the influence of lately.
 
Did we play 3 at the back in our comeback against palace? Maybe Pep really liked what he saw so now we sign Akanji to play that formation.
 
If Pep's going to continue with the inverted backs, I can't see why signing him is a bad idea. Then we can utilise the never-used 3-3-3-1 formation and really go for the jugular. Then when Ake/Laporte are fit again, we revert to a back 4. Fun times!
 
Love the signing. Gives us depth and more flexibility to go to the 3 CB back, switching to that made us electric last weekend.
 
Manc in London said:
He was pretty good against us last year and I thought he was Switzerland's best defender whenever I have watched them play in the last few years.

The signing means we can be more flexible in how we set up defensively and allows us to more easily deal with injuries to full backs (not ideally so but certainly better).
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Nail on the head. If the system utilising the fullback is not working or if we have injuries to said players, the squad has the personnel to go 3 at the back now quite comfortably. Ake will miss games also. The new Lb needs time to adjust. Hopefully not too many noses will be put out if place. Could be a very clever signing and enable us to change formation during games if we find teams leaving us with no space to attack. The only downside is maybe Ake wanting to leave or Laporte over playing time.
 
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