Aston Villa's reported hopes of signing Manchester City defender Nathan Ake look to be over, as the Dutch defender closes in on a move to Chelsea.

What's the word?

Villa were heavily linked with the former AFC Bournemouth centre-back earlier in the window, with reports suggesting that he was keen on a move away from the Etihad due to a lack of regular starts under Pep Guardiola.

However, it now seems as if Thomas Tuchel's side have won the race to sign the Netherlands international, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The football journalist wrote on Twitter that: "Chelsea have full agreement with Nathan Aké on personal terms. Man City are aware of the situation on the player side, but still waiting to receive the official bid.

"City want around £40/45m for Aké and plan is to replace him with a new centre-back in case he leaves."

With Chelsea's new billionaire owner Todd Boehly in place, that fee should represent no problem for the Blues, and a transfer will likely be completed ahead of the new season.

Supporters will be gutted

Although Steven Gerrard has already signed Diego Carlos for his backline this summer, to add to a number of centre-back options at Villa Park, Ake could have been a superb option in the heart of his defence.

Tyrone Mings showed his vulnerabilities on a number of occasions last season and considering Ake's impressive performances for City, on the rare occasions he started ahead of Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias and John Stones, the Dutchman would arguably have been an upgrade on the Englishman.

Ake averaged a strong 6.92 rating from WhoScored across his 14 Premier League appearances last season, which was better than any of Villa's centre-back options would manage, so he definitely could have added some quality to Gerrard's side.

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The 27-year-old was dubbed "fantastic" by international teammate Virgil van Dijk, who will surely go down as one of the best defenders in Premier League history, so Villa supporters will surely be gutted that they are set to miss out on Ake this summer.

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