Tottenham Hotspur are understood to want Bournemouth’s Premier League centre-back Nathan Ake with Mauricio Pochettino keen to enhance his defence.
Eyebrows were raised all across the UK when Bournemouth paid a club-record £20 million to sign young Chelsea defender Nathan Ake in 2017. Suddenly, however, that is looking like a fine investment.
One year on, it seems that Ake is worth double. According to the Telegraph, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing the highly-rated Dutch international, although Chelsea have a gentleman’s agreement that would allow them to re-sign the Stamford Bridge academy graduate for £40 million.
The 23-year-old has been a revelation since arriving at the Vitality Stadium. But, despite Ake’s impressive form, Bournemouth’s defensive record is far from impeccable.
Writing in his Mirror column (16 October, page 49), Stan Collymore has questioned the rising interest in a defender who’s side conceded 61 league goals last season.
“One or two people are getting excited about Bournemouth’s start to the season, but not me,” Collymore said.
“And I won’t do that until they can show me they are capable of keeping significantly more than the four clean sheets they kept last season.
“And such time as I hear that two or three of their players are on the watch-lists of one or some of the top six clubs.”
Ake is the most obvious player who comes to mind reading Collymore’s comments. He is the Bournemouth ace who has been most heavily tipped to depart the South Coast in a big-money deal.
But it must be mentioned that the Cherries’ defensive record would be far worse without Ake, whose class, composure and combativeness seems to make him an ideal replacement for Toby Alderweireld at Tottenham.
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