New Manchester City signing Manuel Akanji has been revealed as a maths genius who says he 'knows calculations by heart' and would practice with the numbers of car registration plates.
City boss Pep Guardiola praised £15m central defender Akanji for his speed on the pitch as he welcomed him to the Etihad Stadium as the club's sixth major signing of the transfer window.
But it appears the Swiss international, 27, is equally as quick with complex mental arithmetic - as he showed and explained on live TV back in 2018. Akanji, who has arrived at City on a five-year deal from from Borussia Dortmund, appeared on a German entertainment show titled 'Wetten, dass?' where his talent was put to the test.
In a clip of his appearance being shared on social media, the presenter asks an audience member to select two numbers at random between 11 and 99, reports GiveMeSport. The presenter says he will use a calculator to multiply the numbers to get an answer - and Akanji will calculate the answer in his head.
She picks 24 and 75 - and the defender shouts 1,800 immediately. "I didn't even start typing yet," says the presenter to laugher from the audience. "That was easy," responds Akanji.
To prove his answer was no fluke, the same audience member then selects 33 and 97. "3,201," says a smiling Akanji, which is the correct answer.
Asked on the show how he came by his talent Akanji said: "A lot of training. I was interested in numbers at school already. My teacher organised a lot of competitions. I won pretty much every time.
"I did mathematical calculations also with licence plates. Don't ask me why. So I know a few calculations by heart."
Akanji, a 41-cap Swiss international, has won trophies in Switzerland and Germany, and follows in the footsteps of Stefan Ortega Moreno, Kalvin Phillips, Sergio Gomez and former Dortmund team-mate Erling Haaland by joining City, with Julian Alvarez also arriving following his loan spell with River Plate.
Akanji began his career at FC Winterthur in his homeland before moving to Basel, where he impressed enough in his three seasons to convince Dortmund to swoop for him in January 2018.
He made 158 appearances during his four-and-a-half year stay with the Black and Yellows, winning the German Super Cup in 2019 and the German Cup in 2020/21.
Akanji told of his delight at the move to Manchester.
"City have been one of the best teams in Europe over the last few seasons," he told the club's website. "They are brilliant to watch, play an exciting brand of football and compete for trophies year in, year out, so coming here feels like the perfect next step in my career.
"Pep Guardiola is an exceptional manager, and this is an exceptional squad of players, so this is an exciting opportunity for me. I am really looking forward to testing myself in the Premier League and I will do everything I can to help this club be successful."
For a man with a love of numbers, he has been given the shirt number 25.
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