Chelsea have cooled their interest in Bournemouth centre-back Nathan Ake, making a transfer in January unlikely, according to the Standard. Ake, 24, obviously came through the academy in SW6 and the deal to sell him to the Cherries reportedly included a £40 million buy-back clause.
However, Blues boss Frank Lampard appears to have decided against bringing the Dutchman back to Stamford Bridge and will look for other targets in upcoming transfer windows now that their ban has been lifted. Still, Chelsea’s defence hasn’t been stellar this season. They’ve shipped 29 in the league this season, more than any other side in the top six.
So far this term, Ake is averaging 1.4 interceptions and 4.2 clearances per match (via WhoScored). Indeed, the clearances metric is significantly higher than that of current Blues centre-half Fikayo Tomori, currently averaging 2.5 per game. Furthermore, Ake excels over Kurt Zouma for fouls conceded, averaging just 0.3 per game compared to Zouma’s 1.2.
As a result of this report and the aforementioned stats, it seems Blues fans weren’t particularly impressed that they’re backing off Ake. With that in mind, here’s how some of them reacted to the news:
Big mistake on Frank’s part
— Abhijeet Singh (@RagingPhoneix) January 14, 2020
Far better than Zouma
— Ray (@imbluefc) January 14, 2020
Bad decision not buying Ake
— MrAnthonyTad (@MrAnthonyTad) January 14, 2020
Frank should avoid that mistake of not buying back Ake.
— @otienoedgar (@otienoedgar1) January 14, 2020
Ake is our best bargain… sign him now plssss😭😢😭
— TiZ. (@TizzYthaSoN) January 14, 2020
I feel this is a mistake. He’ll go to another top 6 team and we’ll regret missing out
— MrMojoRisin (@ImTheDuDe86) January 14, 2020
Why do you think Chelsea aren’t keen on Ake? Join the discussion by commenting below…
