The Baby Gullit – Nathan Aké

So it's official now – recalled from his loan at Bournemouth. And if he's gonna be a first team player, he surely deserves his own thread.

Recalling a young player from a successful loan at a good club in the Premier League that he's playing every match at is risky, but I trust Conte's judgement and, really, this route is much preferable to spending £25m+ on some mediocre squad player to make up the numbers who'd also, going forward, only serve to make it that much harder for Nathan himself to break into the fold.

Looking forward to seeing how this all works out

https://twitter.com/sjstandardsport/status/817824535118487554

Interview to Akè when he was still at AFCB.

Two takeaways from it. The first is that we actually have a loan department that monitors all of our loanies and sends them reports weekly/monthly. Paulo Ferreira and Eddie Newton are in charge of this.

The second is that he sees himself as a Makelele type midfielder and CB foremost, and LB is his third favourite role.

So basically he won't threaten Alonso's place but will only provide a back-up. Which is exactly what we need btw, not worried about that.

I have a feeling that he can break into our defence and usurp either Luiz or Cahill's place. Only Azpi's level is unobtainable for Akè. Obviously we shouldn't just bench one of them and slot Akè right in, but I've got a feeling that once he starts training with Conte, once he gets a couple of starts under his belt due to injuries/suspensions, he'll slowly start to earn Conte's trust and will make leaps in our statting defenders hierarchy.
My prediction is that he'll be a starter in our defence by the start of the next season, if not sooner.

And I guess that in case we deploy a 3man midfield again, he would be a good option to use in the deeper role. The one Kante played in the earlier games of the season, where Kante looked a bit lost and wasn't as impressive as after the system and role switch.

Ake Luiz Azpilicueta is way too short for defence.

He'll probably be Azpi's back up, as well as Alonso's and a back up CM.


Anyway, I am super glad to have him back

I didn't think about that Yea, him and Azpi in a 3CBs system would be short.
They both have great positioning and elevation to make up for it tho.

Add Moses and Alonso and only Alonso and Luiz would be tall enough to be decent headers of the ball.

I think Ake will definitely play, though.

Well this aged remarkably well in 6 short months. The Diane Keaton of threads.

I wish him the best of luck at Bournemouth, I get the feeling he'll return one day, though.