AKE HOPES TO JOIN STERLING IN SWAPPING CITY FOR CHELSEA
CHELSEA are closing in on signing a second Manchester City player after agreeing personal terms with defender Nathan Ake.
It comes with the London club set to seal the signing of City’s Raheem Sterling in the coming days.
Chelsea also hope to land Ake, Pep Guardiola’s fourthchoice central defender, who joined City from Bournemouth in 2020. New Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has been working hard on landing new faces for manager Thomas Tuchel and is believed to have reached a resolution with the 27-year-old Ake’s representatives. City, however, will want market value for a popular member of Guardiola’s squad and quoted Newcastle £50m for the defender earlier in the summer.
Ake re-signing for Chelsea, where he struggled for game time at the start of his career, would take City’s sales significantly beyond the £150m mark this summer given Sterling’s impending switch and Gabriel Jesus moving to Arsenal.
A raft of youngsters have also been allowed to leave the Etihad Stadium for combined fees of up to £50m. Guardiola is taking promising 18-year-old defender Luke Mbete on their US tour later this month, but is expected to want a replacement for Ake should Chelsea agree to the club’s financial demands. Mbete made his professional debut during last season’s Carabao Cup tie against Wycombe Wanderers.
City are expected to make a move for Brighton left back Marc Cucurella.
The Spaniard is keen to join City, but Brighton insist no offer has been received. Chairman Tony Bloom said: ‘We’ve got to be realistic if a certain bid comes in and the player wants to move — but we are not looking for our best players to move on.’