Manchester City's unsung hero has proven Pep Guardiola observation was right

Manchester City's summer transfer window was dominated by the arrival of one man, Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian's season has been one for the record books after he broke Mohamed Salah's 32-goal tally against Arsenal on Wednesday night. If the unthinkable had happened and Haaland had not made the switch to Manchester, Manuel Akanji would have been named the signing of the season.

At £15m from Borussia Dortmund, the deal for Akanji initially seemed needless. City had a wealth of centre-backs already at the club and it was hard to see how he would fit into the team ahead of the likes of Aymeric Laporte.

ALSO READ: Why Akanji started over Laporte

However, the 27-year-old has proven why Pep Guardiola worked to bring him to the Etihad. Back in October, Akanji took on the role of right-back for the win over Southampton.

This match was the first time Akanji had proven his true worth. "I thought he could [play at right-back] but there are players you have to explain ten times, a player has to train ten times there to do what you are thinking, what you want him to do," the Catalan boss explained.

"And this guy – we did just one training session. Just to tell him – and he got it.

"The movement you have to do as a full-back, the high pressing, he didn’t do it once. And he did it perfectly.

"With the ball he’s a magnificent player. Our build-up today should have been with three at the back and that's why normally I play Kyle [Walker] or John, we thought he could do it, it was a little bit scary as he hadn’t proved he could do it before.

"He had to go up the pitch, pressing, come back defending the crosses at the far post. He didn't miss once, absolutely perfect.

"It proves again, intelligent people always pay off. Really good,