Nathan Ake to Man City: Pep Guardiola's side close to signing Bournemouth defender

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By Rob Hoskin

Published Jul 20, 2020

Ake is close to signing for Man City for £35m

Pep Guardiola went on a pretty strong rant when defending Manchester City’s spending last week.City saw their appeal against a European ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration of Sport over alleged Financial Fair Play violations.In a lengthy rant, Guardiola suggested that the likes of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson both had to spend big in years gone by and that City would have liked to sign the likes of Harry Maguire and Alexis Sanchez but couldn’t afford it."We have a lot of money, but we wanted Alexis Sanchez and we could not afford it," Guardiola said."We wanted Harry Maguire and we could not afford it. We could not pay like United paid. So we have money, but the other clubs have money too."We spend in the last decade more than we did in the past, yes, but 20, 25, 30 years ago, Arsene Wenger — the guy who defends perfectly Financial Fair Play… so Arsene, you know that Manchester City was correct with what we have done — spent a lot of money to be there.

"United with Sir Alex Ferguson spent a lot of money to be there. All the clubs, if you want to be on top, all the clubs (spend); if you don’t, it’s more difficult."

With City cleared of any wrongdoing, it seems they’re likely to spend big in order to win back the Premier League title after being blown away by Liverpool this season.

And it seems they’re ‘close’ to making their first purchase of the summer.

According to The Guardian, City are expected to sign Nathan Ake’s Bournemouth for £35 million.

The report reads: “Manchester City are close to agreeing a deal to sign Nathan Aké from Bournemouth. As Pep Guardiola accelerates a rebuild of City’s defence following an unsuccessful defence of their Premier League title, it is believed Aké will become a key recruit for a fee in the region of £35m.”

Ake's Bournemouth look set to be relegated and need a minor miracle to survive on the final day of the season. Therefore, you'd have to say £35 million seems a steep fee if the Cherries do go down.

But it's yet another expensive defensive signing for Guardiola.

Since his arrival, Guardiola has spent £324 million on defenders and still there plenty of problems that need fixing.

Since Vincent Kompany left the club, the Spaniard doesn’t seem to know who to partner Aymeric Laporte at the back.

He no longer seems keen on John Stones, while Nicolas Otamendi is guilty of making too many mistakes.

Check out the long list of Guardiola’s defensive signings which Ake is set to join.

2019-20

Yan Couto (March 2020) – £5.4m
Joao Cancelo ( August 2019) £58.5m
Pedro Porro (August 2019) £10.8m
Angelino (July 2019) £10.8m
Philippe Sander ( July 2019) £2.25m