Nathan Ake is officially a Manchester City player.The Dutchman was confirmed as a new arrival by the club today, signing from Bournemouth for a fee of around £41m.It's a deal that has left a few scratching their heads. While Ake is a decent defender on his day, is he really worth such an extortionate transfer fee?After all, Bournemouth were relegated from the Premier League in 2019/20 and it was far from the 25-year-old's best season with the Cherries.On the face of it, the Dutchman's passing ability is tailor-made for Pep Guardiola's City, but £41m?! Not for us.
But the club just love spending big on defenders and the conformation of Ake's signing means City have now spend around £345m on players for their backline since Guardiola's arrival.
Only eight players were signed for that amount too, an average fee of £43m. We've listed the octet below. Transfer fees sourced from Transfermarkt.
Joao Cancelo - £58.5m
Aymeric Laporte - £58.5m
Benjamin Mendy - £52m
John Stones - £50m
Kyle Walker - £47m
Nathan Ake - £41m
Danilo - £27m
Angelino - £11m
Mental, right? Danilo has since left the club, with Angelino likely to be offloaded this summer.
Laporte and Walker have been worth every penny of their transfer fees, but the likes of Cancelo, and Mendy are yet to fully prove their worth at City.
Cancelo has featured sporadically during the 2019/20 season, while Mendy's proneness to injury has seen his career in England stagnate repeatedly.
The less said about Stones these days, the better. The Englishman was once a regular under Guardiola, but has fallen well out of favour in recent times.
City are probably be keen to offload the former Everton man this summer and they will surely be aware that no team on the planet is forking out £50m for him this time.
The club's defensive signings have been hit and miss under Guardiola and it's hard to tell which category Ake is most likely to fall into.