Panic buying is not a tactic Manchester City have been well acquainted with in recent years.
While the last few transfer windows have seen cross-town neighbours Manchester United flex their financial muscle in knee-jerk reactions to poor form and supporter discontent, City have earned a reputation for getting their business done early doors and on their own terms.
Save for the Harry Kane and Marc Cucurella sagas — City pulled the plug on both when asking prices exceeded their upper limit — City have acted calmly and decisively in the market. They never make last-minute decisions... until this summer.
READ MORE: Manuel Akanji assesses Man City debut after 4-0 win vs Sevilla in Champions League
The injury absences of Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake in the first month of the season put City in a position where they felt they needed to act. The Blues had no plans to sign a central defender this summer after Ake's potential Chelsea switch broke down, but Guardiola was uncomfortable heading into September with just two fit senior options.
Txiki Begiristain granted his coach's wish and, after scouts identified a suitable candidate, acted swiftly to finalise a deal. Manuel Akanji arrived from Borussia Dortmund, following in the footsteps of Erling Haaland, and would be the definition of a panic buy were it not for the fact that he appears to fit City and Guardiola's system like a hand in glove.
For the modest fee of £15m the Swiss centre-back looks like an extremely astute signing by City; at 27 Akanji has years of top flight and Champions League experience under his belt, he is a ball-playing defender and because he was into the last year of his contract, was available for a knock-down price.
While it's obviously still early days in his City career — Guardiola revealed Akanji had trained for one-and-a-half days with his new teammates before making his debut — the defender looked confident, composed and defensively solid in City's 4-0 Champions League win against Sevilla.
The first point of note is his positioning; while on paper Akanji played at right centre-back and Ruben Dias at left, the former often found himself on the other side and looked just as comfortable, as he did when passing with either foot. While Guardiola's positional play system dictates that every player is comfortable playing in any zone of the pitch when the situation dictates, the likes of Laporte and Ake don't seem quite as versatile as the new signing.
Akanji's passing was excellent as well, despite the decent pressure Sevilla put on City when playing out from the back. He completed 71 of 79 attempted passes (90 per cent), but what impressed Guardiola most was the positivity of many of his passes.
"I see a quality quite similar to Aymer [Laporte], he can break the lines with a pass, he read the spaces really well," Guardiola said of his new defender.
Sevilla are no slouches, but ultimately they proved no match for City. Greater tests will undoubtedly come for Akanji, who was not forced into doing much traditional defending, but first impressions are that City were right to make an exception to their usual transfer rule.
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