Bournemouth opinion: The Cherries have to keep Nathan Ake

According to reports from English news outlet Football London, Napoli have once again taken a keen interest in a move for Nathan Ake. The Cherries star had an impressive season but one that went under the radar towards the end, thanks to a few other Bournemouth stars.

The likes of Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser and even David Brooks stole the limelight but that did not stop Nathan Ake to be undetected and have arguably one of his best seasons in a Bournemouth shirt.

It’s one of the many reasons why he was called up to the Netherlands squad and it’s why Napoli have paid close attention to him over the last few months. Arguably their best defender by some margin, the 24-year-old played every single game in the Premier League, only rested in the cup competitions.

That proved to help his performances even more, with Ake contributing to five goals in the Premier League alone. It’s an impressive total and only adds to the reason why Bournemouth cannot let one of their best players go.

Sure, he’ll fetch a pretty sum when a club like Napoli does eventually make their move, but replacing him will be tough. The 24-year-old averaged 1.7 tackles, 0.8 interceptions, and a very impressive 6.1 clearances per game, to add to his passing average of 86%.

Only Liverpool loanee Nathaniel Clyne and Adam Smith made more tackles, only Steve Cook made more clearances and only midfielder Andrew Surman had better passing accuracy. But even then, Surman made only 18 appearances and it shows just how and where Ake excels.

He may not be the aggressive, hard-tackling English defender but he is a cool, calm and composed centre-back, who’s very reliable on the ball. It’s what makes him such a great partner for either Chris Mepham or Steve Cook, as both are polar opposites.

Not to mention, finding a centre-back like Nathan Ake is very rare, especially for a club like Bournemouth. They either cost far too much or are far too good for a club like Bournemouth, leaving the Cherries with scraps.

It’s within those scraps that they even found Ake but that experiment cannot be repeated now, not with the kind of momentum that Eddie Howe is building for the team.

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Conclusion

Bournemouth have to keep their current team intact and add a few more players to make an impact if the club ever wants to move forward. Keeping Nathan Ake should be a big part of that plan as selling him will effectively hurt any chances the club has of thriving in the Premier League.