The newspapers are full of stories about Chelsea lining up Nathan Aké for £40m this transfer window, following the clause they put in Aké's contact when he signed for AFCB. While Chelsea have their own problems in shifting Andreas Christiansen to make room for Aké, we still don't know if Nathan would rather stay at Bournemouth will his team-mates and fight on in the relegation worrying season.
The task for Bournemouth is to find more central defenders that have the control and alertness to danger that Aké has. Even if Aké stays now he is likely to be tempted away in the summer. He is good enough to be a Chelsea player and Bournemouth have benefited greatly from having him at the club. We can't stop him developing when he needs to try and force his way into the Netherlands' starting line up.
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| How much does Aké want to stay? |
Nathan Aké is injured at the moment but there is no doubt that he is Bournemouth's top defender and losing him in the current campaign would be a huge blow for Eddie Howe and AFCB's survival chances. I hope the choice is left with Nathan as to whether he moves this window or not. If Chelsea take him reluctantly, it won't do him or Bournemouth any favours.
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Chris Mepham and Steve Cook are the central pairing that Eddie Howe will have to rest his hopes on to see out the season if Aké does go and he doesn't being in another central defender in January. While I don't worry about them being up for the challenge, the impact of Aké leaving the dressing room is what I'd be concerned with.
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Eddie Howe says he is powerless in the Aké transfer saga. If Chelsea had not put their clause in, Bournemouth could make far more money from selling Aké elsewhere. But it sounds like AFCB have their hands tied and Aké's future is perhaps going to be down to Aké in the end as it should be.
We would all love him to stay, but the best deal for him is probably a top 4 team where he will play and then get Champions League. The best option therefore would be (never thought possible few years back) Leicester. It also helps by strengthening their break up of the top 6 monopoly. The really astute business would then see Filip Benkovic coming the other way on a long term loan or deal with buy back. He has pace and height to replace S Cook and good distribution, but still needs 18 months to develop. Even 6 months would secure what we need now and show what type of player the scouts need to find. Just hope we don't lose Ake without a replacement who has pace.
ReplyDeleteFor Chelsea it's a no brainer. Maguire was in the 80s. Even if they invoke the clause and sell him on they could get 60 million for him. Sad situation for Bournemouth
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