Manuel Akanji

Nathan Murphy caught up with Manchester City's Manuel Akanji following his side's 6-3 defeat of Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

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Manuel Akanji has impressed since Manchester City unexpectedly signed him late in the transfer window.

That will still be the case should he go on to enjoy only half the success that Kompany did. Akanji was not a player City had been monitoring for months and months - as they had with Ruben Dias for example - but at just £15m they could afford to take the gamble. In the same phase of play Akanji's on-the-ball ability shone through as he saw a gap emerge behind United's midfield and he surged into it. One such instance came in the first half of Sunday's 6-3 demolition of Manchester United, when Jack Grealish played a poor crossfield pass that was intercepted in a dangerous area. That forced City to do something out of character; dip into the transfer market at the last minute and sign a player on a bit of a whim. Pep Guardiola was more than happy to go into the new season with the quartet of central defenders that served him so well over the previous two title-winning seasons.

Manuel Akanji shows why Man City signed him with Manchester United comments. Manuel Akanji's bag of post-match food bulged greater than the rest of his Manchester City teammates as he walked out of the stadium on Sunday.

Manuel Akanji's bag of post-match food bulged greater than the rest of his Manchester City teammates as he walked out of the stadium on Sunday.

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Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has had a fantastic start to life at the club but wasn't fully happy with Sunday's performance.

In the end the three points are what matters but hopefully in the next game we can keep the clean sheet." "It's not that easy sometimes but we can't concede three goals in games like this where we controlled basically the game over 90 minutes. Obviously we were up 4-0 and then 6-1. "We started really well and were 4-0 at half-time. Speaking about his disappointment following the 6-3 win over United, he also sounded like a Guardiola player with the sort of mentality that the manager will adore. City weren't planning to sign Akanji this summer but are more grateful every day that they did.