Chelsea Agrees personal terms with EPL Defender...CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Chelsea are planning to sign Nathan Ake in the coming days, and have reached an agreement on personal terms with the Dutch star. Manchester City are aware of the situation, and want around £40-45 million for the defender if he is to leave.
Ake is a Cobham academy graduate and has featured for the Blues in the past. Although, at the time, he failed to earn a consistent place in the first team. As a result, he spent several seasons on loan, initially at Watford before moving to Bournemouth on a permanent basis.
The player made a name for himself with the Cherries under Eddie Howe, and eventually went on to sign for Manchester City in 2020. Now, he is on the verge of a move back to Stamford Bridge at the age of 27, five years after leaving Chelsea permanently.
Nathan Ake would become the second Manchester City player to make the move to the club this summer. Chelsea have seemingly finalised a transfer for Raheem Sterling, and are now looking to reinforce their backline following several key departures in defense.
Ake has the ability to play as a centre-back, as well as a left-back. And there is speculation that he would be a rotational option for Thomas Tuchel, with the likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill preferred to make a start.
There is also some speculation that Tuchel will be shifting to a back four, and a left-footed defender like Nathan Ake could be exactly what the manager needs to make the switch.
Martial to be handed Man United lifeline by Ten Hag
Anthony Martial is set to be handed an opportunity to salvage his dwindling Manchester United career by Ten Hag, according to The Mirror.
The Frenchman spent the second half of the just-concluded campaign on loan at Sevilla after seeing his place in the United starting XI put under further threat by the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He scored just one goal in 11 games across all competitions for the Andalusian club, and it was no surprise that they opted not to make his move to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium permanent.
Martial has returned to his parent club and will now be allowed to prove his worth, starting with United’s pre-season tour which commences in Thailand next week.
Since he arrived at Old Trafford in 2015, Martial has shown glimpses of what a fantastic player he can be albeit not at the required level of consistency.
He finally looked to have come into this own in the 2019/20 season, where he netted a personal best of 23 goals in 48 games and picked up the Players’ Player of the Year award.
However, a series of disappointing displays in the following campaign saw him fall down the pecking order before his loan move to Sevilla last time out.
The 26-year-old still has time to turn things around and a new beginning could be all it takes to do the trick.
With Ronaldo likely to leave this summer, Martial will be looking to rise to the occasion for the Red Devils especially if they fail to sign a replacement for their disgruntled Portuguese forward.
That weight of responsibility could sometimes be the catalyst for a turnaround, and the United faithful will be hoping that so becomes the case in Martial’s instance.
