EPL: Man City Set To Drag Ake With Chelsea

Manchester City are interested in a January deal for Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake – despite a contract clause seemingly putting Chelsea in pole position to bring him back to Stamford Bridge, according to Sky Sports.

The West London club inserted a £40m buy-back clause into the centre-back’s £20m deal to Bournemouth in 2017, and they are now understood to want Ake back after their FIFA transfer ban was lifted.

But City are also understood to want to sign Ake if they can next month, having failed to replace Vincent Kompany in the summer and suffered as a result of the long-term injury to Aymeric Laporte.

Manager Pep Guardiola recently insisted they “cannot” sign anyone due to the difficulties of the winter window, and that he “does not want” anyone either, having adapted Fernandinho to centre-back.

But the Spaniard also conceded that “when an incredible opportunity comes in January for the next four or five or six years, maybe we can think about it”.

At 24, the already established Netherlands international Ake is seen as a future star by a host of top clubs, including Tottenham and Everton, having developed well under Eddie Howe on the south coast.

But City and Chelsea could find themselves in the running for an injured player, with Ake soon set to find out the results of a scan on a hamstring problem picked up at the weekend.

Earlier this season, Chelsea scout Piet de Visser urged the club to re-sign Ake in an interview with a Dutch newspaper, stating “I hope they buy him back. That boy is perfect for them and he has played with (manager Frank) Lampard.”

Ake came through the same Chelsea youth academy that developed players now thriving under Lampard including the Premier League’s second-highest scorer Tammy Abraham, centre-back Fikayo Tomori and midfielder Mason Mount.

But despite their growth under Lampard, Chelsea are still keen to sign new players in January, having been banned from doing so in the summer.