Club’s Striker ‘Called’ Manchester City Star, ‘Urging Him To Join’ | OneFootball

Stu Forster/Getty Images

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has been personally spoken to on the phone by Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen about a move to Turkey.

The Swiss star failed to feature throughout for the Cityzens last season, seeing his chances being limited due to injuries.

He could only make it to the bench for Manchester City’s opening day Premier League fixture against Wolves, with manager Pep Guardiola preferring John Stones and Ruben Dias over him.

Akanji has just two years left to run on his contract at Manchester City and is now attracting interest.

Newly-crowned Turkish champions Galatasaray want him to strengthen their defence for the new season.

Efforts are now under way on the part of Galatasaray to convince Akanji to make the move to Turkey this summer.

According to Turkish journalist Yakup Cinar, Galatasaray striker Osimhen ‘called’ Akanji on the phone and was ‘urging him to join’ the Turkish champions.

Whether Akanji has been convinced by Osimhen remains to be seen, but Galatasaray would like to sign the 30-year-old.

Akanji is likely to understand how important it is for him to be playing on a regular basis this season as it is a World Cup year and he will hope to feature in the competition for Switzerland.

It remains to be seen how much Manchester City demand to sell the defender, who they snapped up from German giants Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

Manchester City have undergone a shakeup so far this summer with a number of players moving on.

Kevin De Bruyne has headed to Napoli, while James McAtee has been sold to Nottingham Forest.