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Nathan Ak

North_Stand_Ram

By North_Stand_Ram
in Transfer Forum

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Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

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Don't know a lot about Ake - looks to have good pedigree. If bringing in a CDM, I thought it was likely to be someone a little older/more experienced. Of course he's the same age as Hughes who I was expecting to start the season there, but Will's played 79 games (amazing for a 19 year old) if Wikipedia's to be believed, compared with Ake's 7.

 

But looks as if he'd strengthen the squad and gives us extra competition for places, and maybe let us use Hughes' silky skills to damage the opposition instead of shutting them out. Cautious welcome from me. Ambitious seems familiar with Chelsea, so I'm interested in his (her?) opinion.

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Ambitious

Ambitious

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Posted

Don't know a lot about Ake - looks to have good pedigree. If bringing in a CDM, I thought it was likely to be someone a little older/more experienced. Of course he's the same age as Hughes who I was expecting to start the season there, but Will's played 79 games (amazing for a 19 year old) if Wikipedia's to be believed, compared with Ake's 7.

 

But looks as if he'd strengthen the squad and gives us extra competition for places, and maybe let us use Hughes' silky skills to damage the opposition instead of shutting them out. Cautious welcome from me. Ambitious seems familiar with Chelsea, so I'm interested in his (her?) opinion.

 

His* opinion  :lol:

 

He is an extremely gifted footballer and has been played in a lot of positions, which obviously would be goof for us given the defence we have. I think the best thing about him would certainly be his physicality and quality on the ball, he's got a good range of passing on him, he has been brought up the 'right way' in terms of how the play with the ball and would be able to integrate into the style of play we have.

 

One thing that does intrigue me about this signing is that, if it does happen, it would certainly help the Christie and Forsyth conundrum. Ake, for me, is primarily a centre half that's got the ability to play CDM too. Therefore, if we do, as expected, continue with the 4-3-3 formation with him as a defensive midfielder then we have a pretty easy option to seamlessly slip into a 5-2-3:

 

Keogh         Ake           Buxton

Christie                                                 Forsyth

 

I believe this would definitely help the system now we have two attacking full-backs, it's something I overlooked earlier but that could be worth it's weight in gold. 

 

Nevertheless, I do have concerns about Ake for the main reasons that he is still a 'raw' player. He can get what I would call 'tunnel' vision - similar to Keogh. I don't think his positional awareness is what it should be, which is what you'd expect from a young lad. Obviously, I have only seen him at centre-back and the quality in the Chelsea team means he can get away with chasing the ball and being allowed to be caught out of position. If he is to come in as a CDM then it won't be as important as it would be if he was a centre back and if we do slip into the five at the back then he has the Keogh and Buxton cushion. 

 

In summary, there are a lot of reasons why this would be a good signing for us. And, I should probably remember that when loaning young players they're very rarely 'all rounded' players, so getting someone in with so much 'raw' ability should be applauded. There is also reason to suggest that he may not work out too well here, but I'd argue that a loan would be ideal for him. Although, Mourinho has hinted that he will be part of the first-team squad next season, I think if we're offering him a starting role here then he'd be daft not to take it up. The experience could really help him along. 

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