Manuel Akanji has said that one Manchester City player never loses his motivation.
The defender recently won his second Premier League title in just two years at the Etihad Stadium and could also win a consecutive FA Cup this weekend as well.
Since joining the Manchester club from Borussia Dortmund back in 2022 in a deal worth £15m, the centre-half has made 95 appearances across all competitions and won six trophies in the process.
Now though, the Switzerland international has pinpointed one of his City teammates as being particularly significant to the squad, in addition to praising him for the elite mindset he has.
Akanji says Erling Haaland is always hungry to perform
Speaking in a recent video shared on the Premier League’s YouTube channel, Akanji had this to say about Erling Haaland and what he offers the team.
He said: “I think the most important thing for our team as a striker is that he scores goals and he does this in such a good manner.
“Even though this year he was injured for some time, he’s still scored a lot of goals. He’s a great striker and I’ve seen it already in what he did with Dortmund and he keeps on doing it here.
“He never loses his hunger and that’s what we need for our striker to score as many goals as possible.”
Haaland’s mindset makes him a key figure for City
Haaland also joined City from Dortmund during the 2022 summer transfer window in a deal worth £51m.
Since then, the striker has scored 90 goals in 97 appearances across all competitions.
In addition to winning the same number of titles Akanji has while at City, the Norwegian has now won two consecutive Golden Boot awards.
This isn’t the first time Haaland’s mentality and hunger have been praised, as Pep Guardiola said this on the matter back in March last year.
He said: “One of the biggest attributes I have learned from working with him is he never loses his focus.
“He can have one chance, two chances but he doesn’t get sad or depressed – he is always thinking positively – ‘I’ll get the next one’ – he knows he will get chances and he will be there and that is a fantastic attribute to have as a football player.”
While the 23-year-old is undeniably a top goalscorer, it’s clear that his mentality and hunger to always do all he can on the pitch makes him very special.