A major update has emerged on Manchester City centre-back Nathan Ake, regarding interest from one of the club's Premier League rivals.
What's the talk?
According to The Sun, Manchester United are weighing up a potential swoop for City centre-back Nathan Ake this summer. United want to add a centre-back to their squad this summer and they are keeping a close eye on Ake's situation at City.
However, he is not their only target in that position. United are also considering Real Madrid and France centre-back Raphael Varane and Villarreal and Spain's Pau Torres alongside Ake.
Last month, former Premier League midfielder Dean Windass suggested that Ake will leave Manchester City this summer as he is not “good enough” for Pep Guardiola's side. Windass said that he could move to City's Premier League rivals Tottenham in search of more game time. He told Transfer Tavern:
"I don’t think he’ll stay at City because I don’t think he’s good enough to play for them in my opinion but also, I can’t see him going back to Bournemouth.
“He’s an athlete, he looks easy on the eye as he’s good on the ball, a threat from set-pieces and he’s quick. So I think that would be a good fit and the alarm bells would start ringing for him if he knew Tottenham wanted to sign him. That would be a massive, massive club for him to go to.”
TIME'S UP
Despite only joining City last summer, the time is already up for Ake at The Etihad. Txiki Begiristain must now ruthlessly axe him in the coming weeks/months even if it means selling him to one of their Premier League competitors in the form of Manchester United. It could end up being a masterclass from Txiki if he manages to cash in on Ake and send the underperforming Dutchman to United, as it could weaken their side and improve City's of finishing above them again all in one deal.
Ake was dreadful for Manchester City in the Premier League. He averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.57 in 10 appearances in the league, with the club keeping three clean sheets in the matches he featured in. This comes after he signed for City off the back of being relegated from the top-flight with Bournemouth - who let in 65 goals that campaign, the second-most in the division.
The £92k-per-week flop, therefore, has shown that he is not good enough - as Windass has explained - to play for Manchester City. This could also mean that he might be a poor addition to United's squad and that he is unlikely to bridge any gap between the two sides. Txiki should sanction Ake's exit and bring in a higher-quality defender to replace him and send him to United to potentially weaken their side.
AND in other news, Forget Kane: Txiki must seal Man City swoop for “extraordinary” £352k-p/w goal machine...