Nathan Ake isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, or at least in the words of his manager.
The Bournemouth central defender has been linked with a move back to Chelsea, who are understood to have inserted a buy-back clause of £35 million into the deal which saw the Dutchman head to the Cherries on a permanent basis in 2017.
Having joined the Blues in 2011 from the Feyenoord youth system, the now 23-year-old went professional with the West Londoners a year later, making his debut in a Premier League fixture against Norwich City.
Several loan spells saw the centre-half receive a good amount of first-team football, and Chelsea bosses decided the time was right two years ago to wave farewell to yet another of their prodigies.
As is becoming common practice in these kind of transfers, Chelsea have the chance to reacquire the Netherlands international should the man himself decide its a move he wants to make.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has swept aside speculation his key centre-back could be off, however.
Quoted by the Daily Mirror, Howe said:
The speculation, as it has been all January, has been purely that.
We’ve had not contact from any other club so it’s business as usual.
Definitive – for now, at least…
