Chelsea have made a proposal to Manchester City to sign defender Nathan Ake, a source has told football.london. The Blues are interested in re-signing the 27-year-old, who left Stamford Bridge in 2017 on a permanent deal.
Ake joined Bournemouth five years ago as he looked for regular game time. The Dutchman said: "The decision to come here was to be able to play more games, which is important for me."
Now, five years on, Chelsea are planning to make a move for Ake, who has struggled for game time at Man City. The former Blues defender played just 12 times in the Premier League for City last season, with the Manchester club having the likes of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones all ahead of Ake in the pecking order.
READ MORE: Juventus CEO drops Matthijs de Ligt Chelsea transfer bombshell as Nathan Ake fee 'agreed'
Chelsea are planning on making an official offer for Ake in the region of £30million, football.london understands. However, our colleagues at the Manchester Evening News are reporting that City will not allow Ake to leave the club unless they have a replacement lined up. The report adds that Chelsea will need to pay at least £50m for City to even consider allowing Ake to leave the Etihad.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are still looking to sign Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus. football.london understands there has been dialogue between Chelsea and Juve over a deal for the Netherlands international this week.
The 22-year-old has two years remaining on his contract and while Juve are keen for him to stay, it appears De Ligt is looking elsewhere. Juve CEO Maurizio Arrivabene recently claimed it was "impossible" for the club to keep the likes of De Ligt when their heart is set on a move away.
He said to Italian outlet Tuttosport: "It's impossible to keep players when they want to leave the club – but all the three parties in the negotiations have to be satisfied."
Chelsea are keen to bring in at least two new centre-backs this summer following the departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Jules Kounde remains a target, but as of right now, it looks as if Ake and De Ligt are the two men in the forefront of Chelsea's mind.
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