ANY player who scores 52 goals in a single season deserves glorification and Erling Haaland is certainly leading Manchester City to glory this season, spearheading their Treble challenge. It’s almost inevitable the Norwegian striker won’t just finish the 2022/23 campaign with haul of team trophies, but with a number of individual honours too.

There’s no doubt Haaland has given City the sort of cutting edge they were previously lacking, but the capture of Manuel Akanji should be looked as their signing of the season. For all the goals Haaland has scored for the Premier League table-toppers, it’s Akanji who has given Pep Guardiola the tactical framework he needed.

Akanji’s arrival from Borussia Dortmund last summer caused little fuss. While the 27-year-old had caught the eye in the Bundesliga, he appeared to have hit his ceiling. Many believed he would struggle with the step up to the Premier League, but Guardiola saw a player who would be able to handle the demands of his style of play.

The signing of Haaland gave Guardiola a tactical conundrum to solve and Akanji has been a big part of the solution. Haaland’s ineffectiveness in possession play meant City needed another body in the centre of the pitch with John Stones pushed forward out of defence. Behind him, Akanji has been the safety net.

Kyle Walker used to be that net for Manchester City, but – in Guardiola’s own words – the Englishman lacks the footballing intellect to operate as part of a back three. Walker’s pace is still useful against speedy wingers – like Vinicius Junior and Bukayo Saka in recent matches – but there is a growing sense he won’t have a part to play in Guardiola’s long-term plan.

A centre back by trade, Akanji has been asked to protect space on the left and right of Manchester City’s defensive line. A lesser player would struggle with such a heavy workload, but the Swiss international’s physical attributes allows him to cover a lot of ground. On the ball, he is also technical enough to get City playing out from the back.

It is Akanji’s intelligence that marks him out most of all, though. He plays the position as if he’s been performing it for years under Guardiola, renowned for loading his players with tactical instruction and knowledge. It’s now difficult to imagine Manchester City without Akanji as the defensive brain behind the whole operation.

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“When you are intelligent, obviously I did not know him, but you realise immediately,” said Guardiola when asked about Akanji’s quality. “Carlos [Vicens, City set pieces coach], he said to me, ‘You just tell him once and he knows it’. The movement, defensively and offensively, he trains it and he executes it perfectly.

“This is a gift for a manager. There are players you have to explain things to 10 times and there are players you have to train 10 times what you are thinking or what you want to do. With this guy, we need just one training session just to say things and he has got it.’

Ultimately, the signing of Haaland might make the most obvious difference for Manchester City in their efforts to win an historic Treble, but Akanji’s contribution has been just as important. City don’t just have the Premier League’s most dangerous attack, they have its joint-best defence too – this is Akanji’s equivalent of the Golden Boot.

With the Premier League title race now as good as over, City are just three matches away from a Treble. This would be Guardiola’s crowning achievement in English football and many would justifiably see Haaland as the signing that made it possible. Akanji, however, better reflects Guardiola and the team he has built.