Man City star claims he could ‘retire’ next year as ‘there’s no end’ to ‘more complicated’ schedule

Manchester City star Manuel Akanji has claimed that he could “retire” next year as he has lamented this season’s “more complicated” fixture schedule.

The 29-year-old joined Premier League champions Man City during the 2022 summer transfer window from Borussia Dortmund for around £15m.

Switzerland international Akanji has proven to be a bargain signing for Pep Guardiola’ s side as he has already racked up 100 appearances for the Premier League side across all competitions.

Akanji has played the full 90 minutes in all five of Man City’s games this season and has hit out at this campaign’s fixture schedule as it becomes “more complicated”.

He made his comments before the start of the Champions League in midweek. The new format of the competition will see the teams play eight group matches instead of six.

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Akanji has boldly claimed that he could retire next year as the current schedule is “so tough” to deal with.

“It’s getting more complicated with the league. You play different teams, and then Inter don’t have the same opponents as us. It’s just got bigger, more games,” Akanji said.

“Then we have the Club World Cup at the end of the season. It’s just game after game and I don’t know how it will work out over the next couple of years.

“It’s so tough, you don’t just think about this season – but also next season. When do we do holidays? There are no breaks in winter.”

He added: “If we are lucky we get two weeks (next summer) and then we need to be back and into next season. There’s no end to it. I don’t know how it works out. Maybe I’ll retire at 30.”

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Despite this, Akanji says he’s relishing the prospect of facing Inter Milan “even with the new format”.

He continued: “I’m looking forward to it, even with the new format.

“I think the old one was better but we go up against the best teams still and we start with a great game against Inter. The last time we played them was in the 2023 final, so good memories for us.”

Guardiola has provided a fitness update about a couple of his key players ahead of City’s game against Inter Milan on Wednesday.

“Rodri came on there and played really good,” Guardiola said.

“He played 45 and I asked him how did he feel and he said he felt good. He is so important for us.

“Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) had extra minutes, Kyle the first minutes, John the first minutes – it’s really good to have that.”

He added: “[Phil Foden] is good but he has not had that many training sessions with us, so (it is) step by step. I am delighted he is back, I need him, we need him, desperately.”