{"id":558972,"date":"2020-07-20T18:42:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T22:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=558972"},"modified":"2020-07-20T18:58:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T22:58:51","slug":"manchester-city-set-sights-nathan-ake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/07\/20\/manchester-city-set-sights-nathan-ake\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Manchester City Set Their Sights on Nathan Ake"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFC Bournemouth<\/a> defender Nathan Ake<\/a>, 25, is on the receiving end of interest from Pep Guardiola, who is looking to strengthen his Manchester City<\/a> side ahead of a Premier League<\/a> title challenge next season. The Guardian’s Ewan Murray reports that City are closing in on a \u00a335 million deal for the Dutchman.<\/p>\n

The former Chelsea<\/a> defender is facing relegation with Bournemouth this season, however, may find himself challenging for silverware on all fronts come next season.<\/p>\n

His reputation during the relegation battle has avoided taking a hit.<\/p>\n

Manchester City Set Their Sights on Nathan Ake<\/h2>\n

Defensive Rebuild<\/h3>\n

Manchester City have been short of options in the defensive department since the departure of captain Vincent Kompany last summer. This has occasionally led to the likes of Fernandinho<\/a> and Rodri<\/a> being deployed in the position.<\/p>\n

They’d been linked<\/a> with a move for Harry Maguire<\/a> last summer, though he joined local rivals Manchester United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More recently, Napoli<\/a>‘s Kalidou Koulibaly<\/a> has been the name at the forefront of reports.<\/p>\n

Ake has emerged as the latest target. Pep Guardiola is looking to rebuild<\/a> the defence in the approaching transfer window and he may start with the acquisition of the Dutch defender.<\/p>\n

First Move<\/h3>\n

After a successful loan spell on the South Coast, Ake joined Bournemouth for \u00a320 million<\/a> in 2017, a then-club record transfer fee.<\/p>\n

Ake is contracted to his current club until 2022, however, there is an acceptance that they may be about to lose their prized asset.<\/p>\n

Ake has long been linked with a move away from Bournemouth. A\u00a0return to his former club Chelsea has been an option, as has a move to Manchester United.<\/p>\n

Sky Sports report that Ake is being monitored<\/a> by a number of clubs, though it appears Manchester City have made the first move. The report claims discussions are at an early stage.<\/p>\n

However, the Guardian’s report suggests an agreement on a \u00a335 million<\/a> deal is close.<\/p>\n

Where He Will Fit In<\/h3>\n

Ake has made well over 100 appearances for Bournemouth and been capped by the Netherlands 13 times.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman is suited to Manchester City’s demands for their defenders to be good on the ball.<\/p>\n

He will represent a more assured option at the back for Guardiola.<\/p>\n

Ake’s arrival may free up room for an exit at the back. The Guardian predict<\/a> speculation surrounding John Stones<\/a>‘ departure will intensify, with Arsenal<\/a> on alert.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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AFC Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake, 25, is on the receiving end of interest from Pep Guardiola, who is looking to strengthen his Manchester City side ahead of a Premier League title challenge next season. The Guardian’s Ewan Murray reports that City are closing in on a \u00a335 million deal for the Dutchman. The former Chelsea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3469,"featured_media":558976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,9,2,3,28],"tags":[159,100,1226,181,40,136],"class_list":["post-558972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-bournemouth","category-featured","category-premier-league","category-transfers","tag-afc-bournemouth","tag-manchester-city","tag-nathan-ake","tag-pep-guardiola","tag-premier-league","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}