Nat shows know Howe
NATHAN AKE’S improvement under Eddie Howe has not just been on the pitch.
Bournemouth’s rising star has learned to treat triumph and disaster with a maturity that has helped him to cope with the hype around him.
The turning point came after a last-gasp defeat to Manchester City last season.
“I had a bad game and I always expect a lot of myself,” said Ake (below).
“When I got home my missus was there with her family and I hardly spoke.
“I didn’t want to go out of the house the whole week because I didn’t want to be seen.
“After that – this year especially – I told myself that I had to change. You can’t live like that.
“The manager told me: ‘If you dwell on it too much you’ll keep it in you and maybe do it again.
“Obviously you still have the hunger to win games. But it’s better just to analyse what went wrong calmly than being angry.”
At 24, Ake’s career is thriving thanks to regular first-team action for which he traded life on the bench at
Chelsea.
But he remains indebted to several senior players at
Stamford Bridge who helped him to stay grounded.
“John Terry, David Luiz and Paulo Ferreira were my influences,” he said.
“They’d see people get into the first team then disappear because they thought they’d made it.
“So they’d try to make sure you stayed on it. To make you a better player.”
Ake faces City today supported by brother Cedric, mum Caroline and dad Moises, all key figures in his success.
Cedric, in particular, gave up a promising career in Holland for Nathan to develop his in England. “My brother came from Holland to Chelsea with me when I was 16,” Ake said.
“I had to go in digs and he lived in Kingston. He basically gave his life up for me to have someone there on the weekends.
“He is four years older and he was a really good player.
“At the age of 18 or 19 he got a move to Ado Den Hag, a professional club. He could have made the first team. “But I went to Chelsea and he said, ‘Ok I want to support you and help you’ so basically he gave up his football to help me.”
PEP GUARDIOLA is set to go on a £350m summer spending spree.
The Manchester City boss wants to make up to four new signings during the close season.
That includes a left-back and a holding midfielder plus two more additions.
The Spaniard, whose side are chasing an historic quadruple haul of trophies this season, said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen but we are thinking about the chance to find somebody in that position (left-back).
“There are three or four positions I think we have to try to look for and some ideas we have.
“I don’t know in the end what is going to happen, but it is an option to buy a left-back and a holding midfielder.
“We are going to try to get and other positions we are thinking about.
“I’m not going to tell you which positions, I don’t want to tell you the players.”
Guardiola will target England and Leicester ace Ben Chilwell after deciding he cannot trust Benjamin Mendy to remain fit.
The France left-back cost City £52m when he joined from Monaco in July 2017 but his switch to the Etihad has proved a nightmare after a string of serious injuries.
In two seasons Mendy has started just 13 league games and has made more headlines for his use of social media than what he has done on the pitch.
Guardiola admits he is not sure he can cope with the physical demands of English football and will look to offload him this summer.
The Catalan, whose side travel to Bournemouth today, even revealed he named Mendy on the bench for the midweek win over West Ham just to make up the numbers.
He added: “He’s not fit. It’s not about English football, it’s the fact he’s not able to play, he’s been injured during two seasons.
“Yeah, I’m concerned. If it happens in two seasons it can happen in three, yeah definitely.”