Manchester City have sold Manuel Akanji to Inter Milan on a permanent deal worth around €15m (roughly £13m), with the transfer formally completed on 4 May 2026. The move brings closure to an arrangement first agreed last summer, when Akanji joined Inter on a season-long loan. That loan contained an obligation-to-buy clause that would convert into a permanent transfer if two conditions were met: Akanji playing in at least half of Inter's Serie A matches, and Inter winning the league title. Both boxes were ticked, activating the buy clause and locking in the fee agreed between the clubs. Akanji has signed a new contract at Inter running until 2028.
Inter wanted Akanji because he solved a specific tactical problem. Under head coach Cristian Chivu, Inter play with a back three, and Akanji has been converted from a conventional centre-back into the right-sided stopper in that system. He had barely played in a three-man defence before arriving in Milan, having mostly encountered it on international duty with Switzerland, but he adapted quickly and became one of Chivu's first names on the team sheet. Akanji has since described Inter as "a university" that helped him grow as a defender, crediting Chivu with sharpening his reading of the game in a system that demands more from its wide centre-backs than a flat back four does.
For Manchester City, the sale is part of a broader reshaping of the defence under Pep Guardiola rather than a reaction to poor form. Akanji had been a reliable, versatile squad player at the Etihad for several seasons, capable of playing across the back line and even at full-back, but he had slipped down the pecking order well before this deal was finalised. The emergence of Abdukodir Khusanov, City's January signing from Lens, alongside the arrival of Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace, left Akanji competing with Rúben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol for a shrinking number of starts. Guardiola has been open about wanting to trim and freshen his squad, and letting a senior centre-back leave for a fee fits that plan. Akanji himself has spoken candidly about the way the exit came about, suggesting that "clubs don't always offer loyalty" — a sign the parting was not entirely amicable.
Akanji's form since making the move to Italy has been a major factor in the fee being triggered at all. He has been ever-present in Chivu's defence, making more than 30 appearances across the season, and has been widely credited as a calming, commanding presence at the back as Inter won the Serie A title. He has overtaken more experienced options such as Francesco Acerbi and Stefan De Vrij to become a first-choice starter, and has drawn praise from Italian media as a defensive lynchpin during Inter's title-winning campaign.
At 30, Akanji brings composure, positional intelligence and top-level experience to a back three that has just won Serie A, and there is no reason to expect his role to change now the move is permanent. He is expected to continue as Inter's right-sided centre-back, offering the ball-playing ability and tactical discipline that made him such a good fit for Chivu's system in the first place. For Manchester City, the sale frees up space and a squad number for a defensive unit that now leans more heavily on Dias, Stones, Gvardiol, Khusanov and Guéhi as Guardiola looks to build around a younger core.