Nathan Aké

[Jase 43,479]

Wow. We sure know how to ruin young players in our books. Let him rot in the team all season and then suddenly loan him out for a month. What's the point?!

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

please don't let me down with this lad Jose...I'm losing hope...

[zolayes 14,489]

The next young player to make it will be Jose junior .. our replacement for Petr

[Blue Armour 4,436]

Nothing more to be said...disappointing news, this. (...although odds are that he might have rotted away on the bench instead)

[mikeholiday 209]

He was an insurance. Just in case an Arsenal-like injury bug hit us as I believe he's a wing back and central mid cover.

Fortunately for chelsea we were not hit. UNFORTUNATELY for Ake we were not hit.

[stroey 2,525]

On the website it says until 22 April? Does the season and then for them? That's like a loan spell of less than 1 month, why do we do this?

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

1 month loan, ridiculous... At least he'll play I guess. He's kinda doomed tbh. Knew it from the moment BOTH Mikel and Matic were unavailable and he didn't get a single minute... It's a shame because I have (had?) really high hopes on him, one of my favourite prospects. José really has to improve on his youngster development.

[Special Juan 28,133]

Playing time for the lad under Clarkey.....Good luck Nathan.

[Stats 7,142]

He is such a talented player. Has excellent reading of the game, excellent technique and strength. It is not even about him regressing. It is more the fact that we just do not give the young players a chance. Hope he makes an impression at Reading and hopefully next seaosn will have a long season loan whre he plays regularly. His brother goes to the same university as me btw.

We offerred him a 5 year contract last season so we obviously see something in him and I hope he shows what he can do because his versatility and abilities on and off the ball is exceptional.

[Jase 43,479]

He was an insurance. Just in case an Arsenal-like injury bug hit us as I believe he's a wing back and central mid cover.

Fortunately for chelsea we were not hit. UNFORTUNATELY for Ake we were not hit.

Really? Matic and Mikel were suspended and injured respectively earlier this month and yet what did Mourinho do? Play Zouma - a CB - out of position in DM. Was probably soul-destroying experience to see that happened.

1 month loan, ridiculous... At least he'll play I guess. He's kinda doomed tbh. Knew it from the moment BOTH Mikel and Matic were unavailable and he didn't get a single minute... It's a shame because I have (had?) really high hopes on him, one of my favourite prospects. José really has to improve on his youngster development.

Oh he'll play but how many games to be exact? He clearly won't be 100% fit and considering Reading are not entirely out of relegation trouble yet, would Steve Clarke be patient and give him sufficient game time to get his rhythm going?

He is such a talented player. Has excellent reading of the game, excellent technique and strength. It is not even about him regressing. It is more the fact that we just do not give the young players a chance. Hope he makes an impression at Reading and hopefully next seaosn will have a long season loan whre he plays regularly. His brother goes to the same university as me btw.

We offerred him a 5 year contract last season so we obviously see something in him and I hope he shows what he can do because his versatility and abilities on and off the ball is exceptional.

The funny thing is, had Benitez stayed on as our manager, he might have played regularly in the first team. Benitez appeared to really rate Ake.

[Shakez 755]

Our Youth development is disgusting. Yeah, we dominate the U18-21 region wich is great and all, and i get maybe 1 or 2 can make to step to first team football at Chelsea. But it really wastes alot of good potential that don't make the cut. They are all getting loaned out 2 championship level clubs. Aké for example could've played first team football 2 years already for Vitesse. Musonda Jr, Anderlecht we're about to play him in their first team at around age 16 (he's 18 atm). I guess the money is just too tempting + most of those boys genuinely believe they'll get into the first team. Their parents should protect them from themselves, or pick a club that has a good track record in youth development. Chelsea just isn't that place.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

So he's going to play in the following fixtures (5 matches) :

Saturday 4th April 2015

ReadingvCardiff

15:00

Tuesday 7th April 2015

BlackpoolvReading

19:45

Saturday 11th April 2015

ReadingvBlackburn

15:00

Tuesday 14th April 2015

ReadingvBournemouth

20:00 Wednesday 22nd April 2015

ReadingvBirmingham

20:00

However, he will be back and can't play in this fixture (3 matches) :

Saturday 25th April 2015

ReadingvBrentford

15:00Tuesday 28th April 2015

RotherhamvReading

19:45Saturday 2nd May 2015

DerbyvReading

12:15

Why don't loan him to the end of the season ? I wonder if Chelsea somehow want to use him at the end of the campaign.

[Leif 6,006]

Regardless of the broken hearts via Jose's lies, I think he's too frail to play in the 2 man midfield we typically deploy. His frailness seems to lend him agility though so i'd happily have him in a 3 man midfield with more running and passing responsibilities compared to the more disciplined physical role taken up by Matic. If anything he would have been an interesting alternative to Fabregas in games where we're pressing for the entire 90mins, because he'd press better than half our midfielders do currently and also pass better than them too (Ramires, Mikel, possibly Matic?)

There's no gaping hole in our squad to be filled by him, not with our current system; it's a case of trying to fit a talented triangle player into a square hole.

He would do well at Arsenal, or perhaps a team in Germany that's on the ball lots, but not many sides are crying for a player like Ake, because you need a particular playstyle to get the best out of him. Someone like Loftus-Cheek can fit into multiple systems and is thus obviously the safer choice for a manager, and in this day and age it makes no sense to keep 2 youngsters both competing just for a minute on the field, especially when 1 is more versatile than the other, so loaning the less adaptable player is the right choice though it should have been done earlier.

(I think Ake would be really good at Atletico Madrid, for various factors including a less physically demanding league, but that's just a fantasy for me to try out on Fifa later.)

I'm probably wrong, but was he deployed in a 3 man midfield when Benitez was here? Or was he used in a 2 man midfield? If he was and he bossed in that position i'll eat my words.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Regardless of the broken hearts via Jose's lies, I think he's too frail to play in the 2 man midfield we typically deploy. His frailness seems to lend him agility though so i'd happily have him in a 3 man midfield with more running and passing responsibilities compared to the more disciplined physical role taken up by Matic. If anything he would have been an interesting alternative to Fabregas in games where we're pressing for the entire 90mins, because he'd press better than half our midfielders do currently and also pass better than them too (Ramires, Mikel, possibly Matic?)

There is no gaping hole in our squad that can be filled by him really, not with our current system; it's a case of trying to fit a talented triangle player into a square hole. He would do well at like, Arsenal, or maybe a team in Germany that's on the ball lots, but not many sides are looking for a player like Ake right now i think, because you need a particular way of playing to get the best out of him, whereas someone like Loftus-Cheek can fit into multiple systems and is thus obviously the better choice for a manager. (I think Ake would be really good at Atletico Madrid actually, for various factors including a less physically demanding league, but that's just a fantasy for me to try out on Fifa later.)

I'm probably wrong, but was he deployed in a 3 man midfield when Benitez was here? Or was he used in a 2 man midfield? If he was and he bossed in that position i'll eat my words.

Ake is taller and weighs more than Makalele. Way too early to write him off at midfield.

[nyikolajevics 2,690]

I think Aké is likely to play as a LB at Reading. Their regular LB is a LW and they concede too many goals. Also, they are filled with CMs, I don't think they needed to sign another one so quickly.