Nathan Aké

[Jase 43,479]

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Ake got no. 6

[Svita 10 186]

surprised nobody mentioned him here. he was brilliant last night, great talent. never thought he could make to first team and fight for spot! keep it up young man! :blue scalf:

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Yeah, didn't he looked good?? And ready to be Filipe's back-up?? Great prospect

[Namika 922]

He will become a starter here. Reminds me a bit of Alaba.

[Barbara 15,149]

Signing Luís sounds even better when we have an kid around 20 as farther in his development curve as Aké. Of course, there's still a long way to go, many things to add to his game, but I feel Luís should be all more appreciated now.

We didn't need - and I've always said that - the young, amazing prospect in the LB that many wanted. We need a guy as experienced and good as Luís, who will teach a lot to Aké and we could end up having another English, homegrown, club trained player coming the ranks for us. That's the ideal situation. We need these references, our academy needs those situations - for the kids to keep believing and motivated and approach it the right way. If our academy is known as a graveyard, as Mourinho said, the kids will look at us as a gas stop in their careers, if they really have potential. We really need this to happen and Aké has been nothing short of impressive for many different reasons in this pre-season. I know I appreciate Luís more because of Aké and I stand much more convinced we've never needed a LB in their early 20's as the few names suggested in the transfer threads. We've got it covered.

edit: I think it's time we change his number in the thread link. He ain't 57 anymore by any means.

[Myself 793]

He should be no. 2 LB. Definitely.

[OneMoSalah 8,809]

To be honest this guy could end up as a regular for us in a few years as a LB, CM or possibly even CB if he decides to bulk up a bit. Where is he going to be at his best though?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Change the number to #6.

[Dy-lan 142]

I'm really enjoying watching Ake develop. Never pictured him as a fullback as we've always watched him as that tidy little midfielder who can play some center back as well. But more power to him for really coming into his own in the LB position.

I love his attitude from his recent interviews. He talked about how he's not used to LB but you don't complain about position when you're getting minutes at a club like Chelsea as a youngster. The number 6 looks good on him, let's hope it's an indicator that he'll feature a decent amount this season in the first team.

[Amblève. 4,995]

Bow down to the almighty Egalitarian.

Anyone else thinking we should try pulling off an Alaba-like development with Ake? They're pretty similar in their playing styles with Alaba being the more offensive gifted one and Ake playing it safe more often. Not saying they're on the same level of potential but I see many similarities between the two. Also, I doubt Ake's gonna make it as a DM or as a CB (due to his size and stature) here, so instead of seeing him go out on loan for 2 or 3 years and then selling him why not try him in that LB spot? He's played there already for the Youths and it's not like we have any better prospects at LB anyway.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Said a while back that this kid could be one of the reasons we didn't go hard after Shaw. Looks increasingly strong as a left-back and has always been composed on the ball. Good physicality, great technique he just needs games for the u21s at that position with a few first-team appearances.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Great attitude but. Was snapping at everything despite it being just a pre-season. Hopefully we keep him.

[zolayes 14,489]

think he has shown he deserves to be a regular squad member ,,,

[LAB 1,030]

Brilliant kid. My favourite young player of pre-season.

[bababoom 4,478]

In the first half he was one of our best players, this pre season he's really surprised me, I used to thinkn he was kind of slow and doesn't offer much going forward but how wrong was I.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Would be amazing if he turns into our own Alaba (and not just for CFC either ).

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Can the mods edit the thread title please? He is our No.6 now and I'm confident he is going to keep it for a long long time!