Inter defender Manuel Akanji enters the 2026-27 Serie A season with one appearance behind him, a 6.60 average rating, and a club already positioned second in the early standings after a 4-1 opening win against Monza. The 31-year-old Swiss centre-back is not the story Inter are telling about themselves right now — and that, for a defender, is often the point.
The Nerazzurri's early-season arithmetic is encouraging. Cristian Chivu's Inter have conceded once in their opening match while scoring four, a goal difference that places them among the division's most productive sides through one round. For Akanji, operating within a defence that absorbed Monza's threat and held firm across ninety minutes, the clean sheet column matters more than any individual flourish. A centre-back's value accumulates in the margins: positioning, communication, the pass that doesn't become a headline because it didn't need to.
His AI Overall rating of 80 out of 100 reflects a player who has settled into the demands of top-level football without requiring constant recalibration. At 31, Akanji is past the phase of proving he belongs; the question for this season is whether he can sustain that level across a full Serie A campaign under Chivu's system, which has already shown an appetite for high-scoring, assertive football.
Off the pitch, Inter's squad management has been active. The departure of a defender to Monza on loan — confirmed in the days following the opening fixture — narrows the defensive options available to Chivu, which in turn sharpens Akanji's importance to the first-choice back line. Depth decisions made in August tend to define February.
The bookmakers, for what that measure is worth, have already installed Inter as title favourites after a single round. That pressure will arrive in earnest once the fixtures accumulate and the margins tighten. Akanji's job is to ensure the defensive foundation holds when it does.