Manuel Akanji has had a strong start for Manchester City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, with the 27-year-old also demonstrating his abilities off the field.
Manuel Akanji, the Manchester City defender, has revealed how he became so excellent at maths as he opened up about his debut at the Etihad Stadium.
What did Akanji do?
The Swiss defender has been impressive with his math talents, with Akanji excelling at computations and fast thinking under pressure. It is a skill he is proud of, and he demonstrated it in an interview when the centre-back was able to answer tough arithmetic problems with ease.
It sums up his outstanding start at City, with the centre-back integrating into the side relatively readily after his deadline-day move from Borussia Dortmund. Aside from missing the 3-0 win against Wolves due to the birth of his second child, Akanji has featured in every game he has been available for since joining, with the exception of a benching against Copenhagen in midweek.
Akanji has been showing off his arithmetic abilities in the build-up to City’s game against Southampton. He was requested to do multiplications relating to City, beginning with 23 x 42. This shows the number of major trophies City has won, as well as the number of Switzerland caps Akanji has gained for his country.
He answered that question in a split second, which is a surprising accomplishment given his ability to communicate in a multitude of languages.
What did he say?
“My teacher I had would always come up with competitions, calculating, and from that point, I knew I was really good at it and won every time.”
“It is hard to predict what someone is going to do when they are going to a new club because you never know what is going to happen.
“But I am not surprised with what he is doing right now. I do think he is doing it at a higher level to what he was doing at Dortmund, but it is also to do with the team and the players that he has around him, the passes he gets.
“Also, his finishing, his runs from deep, his headers, he has improved a lot already. If he keeps on doing that, he will score more and more goals.”
