Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Ake wants City place after his £41m move
MANCHESTER City have completed the signing of defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth.
City agreed a £40 million fee, rising to a potential £41m, with the relegated Cherries last week and the 25-year-old has signed a five-year contract.
Ake is City’s second signing of the delayed summer transfer window, after the club landed Spain U/21 winger Ferran Torres from Valencia.
“City have been the best side in England over the course of the last decade,” said Ake.
“Coming here is a dream for me. This is a top side full of world-class players. Everywhere you look in this squad there are big names with international pedigree.
“Pep (Guardiola) is a manager admired across the world – what he’s done in the game speaks for itself. The success he’s had is unbelievable and the style of football he plays really appeals to me.
“I know I’m going to have to work hard to get into the side, but that’s what I’m here to do. I’ll do whatever I can to make an impact and help the team win silverware.”
With Aymeric Laporte missing five months of the current season through injury and Guardiola appearing to lose faith in a John Stones-Nicolas Otamendi partnership, midfielder Fernandinho often played as a makeshift centre-back.
Ake was a youth player at Chelsea and had loan spells at Reading, Watford and Bournemouth before joining the Cherries permanently for £20m in 2017. Chelsea reportedly had a buy-back option but chose not to exercise it.
Meanwhile, City’s first signing of the summer, Torres, claims he was forced out by Valencia.
The 20-year-old, who signed for an initial fee of £20.9m, said there were people at the club “determined to damage” his image and he did not have a good relationship with captain Dani Parejo, who barely spoke to him.
“Valencia gave game me everything and trained me since I was seven,” he said.
“I’ve had hard times there and that’s why I ended up leaving, but I want to emphasise that I’m very grateful to Valencia and will always support them.
“The problem is that there are people within the club and a few journalists who are determined to damage my image.
“I don’t want to leave on bad terms because I’m a Valencia fan.
“I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone with my departure, that was never my intention, but what has happened has forced me to take a different path from the one I always dreamt of.”
Torres had entered the final year of his contract and he suggested the club’s failure to meet any of his requests, plus his poor relationship with Parejo, left him with little option but to leave.
He claims he asked to be captain, be made one of Valencia’s top earners and also for owner Peter Lim to be involved in negotiations to make him feel wanted.
“I started thinking about it last summer after the European Under-19 Championship. The club told me personally that they weren’t counting on me,” he added.
“What was worse was that they even put me on the market and offered me to teams in Spain.
“I wanted to stay and I put forward the conditions to do so. The club didn’t want to keep me.”