Manchester City before buying Nathan Aké

Jürgen Klopp cannot really be praised enough for winning the championship with Liverpool this year.

Because it was clear that Pep Guardiola only won the fourth time since 2009 at the end of a season. Once the Catalan Real Madrid had to give way (2012), once he was in the Sabbatical (2013) before his time in Bavaria, once Chelsea FC was better (2017) – and now Liverpool.

Guardiolas is investing in Manchester City to keep the runner-up from slipping. After the avoided ban on the Champions League and the income for Leroy Sané (approx. 45 million euros), who switched to Bayern, the treasury of the Citizens is full – despite Corona.

Sané will in all likelihood replaced with the Spanish youngster Ferran Torres (Valencia CF), the most expensive and most important new addition is called Nathan Aké.

Similarity to Virgil van Dijk

The 25-year-old comes according to consistent media reports from England for £ 40m from relegated AFC Bournemouth, an agreement is expected in the near term.

Aké flies under the radar outside of England, despite already having 146 games in the Premier League, he only comes to eleven international matches for the Netherlands.

However, the central defender is highly valued on the island – and is strikingly reminiscent of Virgil van Dijk.

The Liverpool superstar also came in his mid-20s from a middle-class club (Southampton FC), he also plays for Oranje, had only 16 caps at the time of his transfer and is playing in central defense. Both do not come from the famous Ajax youth, but were trained at Feyenoord Rotterdam (Aké) and Willem II (van Dijk) and have their roots in Africa.

And for both – according to the opinion of many experts and fans at the time of the change – excessive payments were made.

Van Dijk (€ 84.6 million transfer) has long dispelled these doubts, the 29-year-old is considered the best defender in the world and was voted Europe’s footballer of the year in 2019.

Top values ​​in the Premier League

For Guardiola Aké should now become Manchester Citys van Dijk.

The coach has identified the Citizens’ central defense as the weak point of his team, in fact City conceded twelve goals more than the Reds until the Liverpool championship on matchday 31. In contrast to the titles won in 2018 (0.7) and 2019 (0.6), the average was 0.9 goals conceded per game.

City failed to adequately replace club legend Vincent Kompany after he left Anderlecht. Guardiola experimented in central defense with John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Eric Garcia and Fernandinho, only Aymeric Laporte was – if he was healthy – set.

Aké regularly attracted positive attention when relegated from Bournemouth and most recently also wore the captain’s armband. Due to a muscle injury, he missed the last three games and had to stand by and watch his colleagues gamble away.

“First of all I have to say that he is a great person. I talk to him again and again on the national team. And I think he is also a fantastic player,” said van Dijk in Bournemouth Echo about Aké. “He proved that by winning duels and took another step when he got the captain’s armband. It is good to see that he is getting better.”

Aké’s 29 blocked shots are more than twice as many as the best city professional (Fernandinho, 14). Six times he prevented an opposing goal with a courageous tackle in the penalty area, his accuracy of 87.6 percent is among the top values ​​of all Premier League defenders. In addition, despite being only 1.80 meters tall, Aké is very strong in the header, has already scored six goals per head and is also one of the top players in the statistics of header duels.

Breakthrough is a long time coming

Also because of its small size for a central defender, it took several years for his breakthrough in the Premier League. Aké had already switched to the Chelsea youth team in 2011 and was awarded several times by the blues before Bournemouth committed him in 2017 for 22 million euros.

Previously, he had mostly played for Watford in defensive midfield, Bournemouth initially used him as a left-back. The Dutchman only found his home in central defense under the current Cherries coach Eddie Howe, where he also made his breakthrough.

According to Sky Sports Chelsea now wanted to activate a £ 40 million buyback clause, but Aké decided to switch to City.

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old is accompanied by doubts – like van Dijk once did.

Carragher doubts in Aké

“I like Nathan Aké and I think he will do ManCity well. But Laporte is a regular and I am not convinced that two left-footers work in central defense,” said TV expert Jamie Carragher on Twitter. “I know that two right-footers can play together, but the other way around it doesn’t feel right for me.”

Former city defender Micah Richards also doubts: “Buying just a central defender won’t solve all the problems. People say van Dijk solved Liverpool’s problems and he really helped them, but his arrival depended on the increase in Trent (Alexander-Arnold, Anm. d. Red.) and (Andy) Robertson together, and Alisson also joined. “

Pep Guardiola apparently does not have these doubts. He relies on Aké – and wants to part with Stones and Otamendi, according to media reports, because of the oversupply of central defenders.

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