Not content with pursuing just Raheem Sterling, Chelsea appear to be plotting a double swoop of Manchester City stars this summer.
It appears that City centre-back Nathan Ake is high on Chelsea's wishlist, as Thomas Tuchel looks to rebuild his defence after a handful of departures. However, MEN Sport understands that, although Pep Guardiola has a general rule that players that wish to leave will be allowed to if they present an acceptable offer from another club, the Blues would not countenance letting the Dutch defender leave without both getting at least £50m for him and knowing that they can sign a replacement this transfer window.
Since arriving from Bournemouth for £41m in 2020, Ake has endured a difficult time in Manchester, a combination of injuries and patchy form preventing him from staking a convincing claim to a starting centre-back spot.
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He is comfortably Guardiola's fourth choice central defender, with Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones above him in the pecking order. Only in the second half of the 2021/22 campaign — when a string of injuries and suspensions decimated City's defensive options — did the 27-year-old get regular minutes on the pitch.
Five of his 14 Premier League appearances came in the final nine outings of the season, while he also put in heroic performances in both legs of the Champions League quarter-final tie against Atletico Madrid.
Ake is believed to be open to moving to Stamford Bridge. Understandably he wants to play more, and feels like he has a better chance to do that at the club where he began his career. It may seem odd that a club with the ambitions of Chelsea are keen to make a key defender out of one of their rivals bit-part players, but in his few appearances this term Ake showed just why he is so highly rated.
A solid defender who is good on the ball and strong in the air — despite his relatively short stature — Ake would be a good starting option for City if it wasn't for the talents in-front of him. It's not a case of him being bad, it's just that Guardiola's other options are better.
Guardiola and City have a policy of selling players who want to leave; they won't force anyone to stay who doesn't want to. However, selling Ake will leave City in a potentially sticky situation.
Injuries to Dias, Stones and Kyle Walker in the season run-in left the Blues with few defensive options, but at least in Ake they had a natural centre-back who could step in, as well as fill in at left-back on occasion.
With emergency centre-half Fernandinho now departed, there would be little-to-no slack in the system should City go into the new season with just three senior centre-backs.
One solution could be Luke Mbete. The 18-year-old academy product signed a three year contract extension last week, which will keep him at the club until 2027. He impressed Guardiola in 2021/22, so much so that he was a regular fixture in first-team training and in Champions League matchday squads.
However, he is only 18; should bad injury luck strike again, it would be a big ask for him to dive straight into the first team, especially given that he has played just 100 minutes of senior football.
The other option would be for City to sign a fourth senior central defender, but after laying out significant sums on Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and — if things go according to plan — Marc Cucurella, they may have to spend shrewdly. Regardless of the fee involved, any new signing will likely need time to bed-in and adapt to Guardiola's system.
Ultimately, if Ake wants to leave, Chelsea put a suitable offer on the table and City can find a replacement, then City are very likely to sell. The move would come under a transfer policy that has served them well in recent years, but with a new signing needing time to bed-in, it could leave them short in a vital position.
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