Chelsea manager Antonio Conte admitted that Nathan Ake is unhappy with his lack of game time so West Brom should not hang around.
If West Brom manager Tony Pulis is on the lookout for a long-term successor to 37-year-old centre-half Gareth McAuley, signing a player just a few months his junior does not make a lot of sense.
According to the Daily Mirror, The Baggies were recently leading the chase to sign Chelsea’s captain, leader, free-agent John Terry at the end of the season after making their initial interest know in January.
However, despite the fact that Terry is one of the finest defenders in Premier League history with a CV to match, he wouldn’t exactly represent much of a forward-thinking solution. Instead, perhaps West Brom should target another Chelsea defender.
Nathan Ake springs to mind.
Dutch Courage
The 22-year-old Dutchman would have a right to be furious with the league leaders’ decision to cut short his hitherto excellent loan spell at Bournemouth in January.
After making ten largely impressive appearances on the South Coast, his excellent positional sense, reading of the game and handiness from set pieces at either end helping Bournemouth overachieve once again, Ake has not been handed a single Premier League second by Antonio Conte in the last three months.
Thus, the Italian admitted recently that Ake was far from happy at being left out of Chelsea’s side, although he was given a rare opportunity in Saturday’s 4-2 FA Cup semi-final triumph over Tottenham, as reported by the Daily Star.
Therefore, West Brom should consider taking advantage. Capable of playing at centre-half or even at left-back, Ake would give Pulis plenty of options. Furthermore, with seldom-seen loanee Brendan Galloway returning to Everton and Sebastian Pocognoli unlikely to have a future at Hawthorns, The Baggies could do with reinforcements at left-back.
And Ake proved at Bournemouth that he will thrive when given regular game-time.
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