Inter Milan signed Manuel Akanji on loan from Manchester City in the summer transfer window, beating competition from local rivals AC Milan.
The defender played 136 games for the Citizens before departing, winning the Premier League twice and the Champions League once.
The Switzerland international is yet to make his debut for Inter but journalist Pierluigi Pardo has expressed surprise that Manchester City let him leave in the summer.
When speaking of the Nerazzurri’s operation in the transfer window, he focused briefly on Akanji.
He told Radio 24, relayed by Tuttomercatoweb: “ I think Inter have strengthened, but it remains to be seen whether they’ve strengthened enough. There’s definitely something extra up front, especially in terms of attack.”
“Akanji? I don’t understand why Manchester City let him go, but good for Inter. The team hasn’t weakened, even though Napoli has built a strong defence.”
Pardo’s comments are probably based on the fact that the 30-year-old played over 2500 minutes for Manchester City last season and in the past has also operated in midfield. It is fair to say that he did add a lot of value to the Citizens’ first-team.
Pep Guardiola’s side signed Juma Bah, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January. If not immediately, they will end up replacing the ex-Borussia Dortmund player in the near future.
The 21-year-old Uzbekistan international is still at the club and it remains to be seen the impact he can make at Manchester City. So there could already be a plan in place at the Etihad to replace Akanji, who has replaced Benjamin Pavard at Inter.