Nathan Ake come close to leaving Manchester City over the summer when Chelsea were showing an interest, but a deal fell through and the Dutch international now insists he’s happy he stayed.
The 27-year-old struggled for playing time last season after falling behind Ruben Dias, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte in the pecking order, so Chelsea were an attractive proposition to get regular playing time, but his asking price wasn’t met so a sale didn’t go through.
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Although Ake seemed keen to leave due to lacklustre playing time in 2021/22, he said of the failed move: “I’m very happy to be at Man City and I’m happy that I stayed here in the summer. I was never worried about competition”.
The 27-year-old made 27 appearances from a possible 58 last season (46.5%), amassing 1739 minutes of football from a possible 5220 (33%). In the Premier League, Ake started only 10 times from a possible 38, so few could blame him for wanting out.
City didn’t have a replacement lined up at the time and Chelsea weren’t willing to pay £40m for the centre-back, so Pep Guardiola was more than happy to keep him. Vital Man City argued that Ake should stay too, as he’s a homegrown player who can operate in multiple roles in defence.
Guardiola has since gone on to say that he was happy not to lose Ake and he’s gone on to start him in five of City’s 10 league outings this season. The Dutchman has only missed games due to injury, so he’s really turned his reputation around.
In other news, Jack Grealish has gone 13 games without making an assist
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