Nathan Ake

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Tugay One Cup said:
If I remember correctly, it looked like we really wanted him but in the All or Nothing documentary they show that we pretty much got priced out of it. They cut any mention of his name and they've blurred out the list of targets but it's pretty clear they were talking about van Dijk and Liverpool's bid.
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Yeah I guess so, but I think Liverpool needed him more than we did and we also seemed just as happy to sign Laporte so I don't see Van Dijk as one that got away. Ultimately, Liverpool were in dire need of a top CB at the time and once they got someone it was always going to have transformative effect (along with the GK).

Signing Laporte instead of Van Dijk hasn't hurt us. The main problem for us was that Liverpool were strengthened because of it but you can't just buy players and disregard your own budget to stop other teams buying them (which is basically what United did with the likes of Sanchez and Fred).

I just think we made a mistake not bringing in another at the start of this season, but it sounds like we're definitely going to remedy that now.
 
Mon Autre said:
Were we ever properly in the running for Van Dijk though? I was under the impression we were in the market for one CB at the time and our preference was Laporte, who we bought.
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I thought we were until it went over a certain number £60m if I remember correctly? Could be wrong and it could have just been Southampton bumping the price up!

blueparrot said:
Laporte was the Van Dijk alternative, so it wasn’t any mistake at all. Ake isn’t intended to partner Laporte as they both play on the left.
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If Ake isn’t intended to partner Laporte then it doesn’t fix our problem of having no partner for Laporte and we’d still need to go into the market for a top quality right-sided centre back?

I know Ake’s left footed but you see plenty of centre back pairings both right footed, so why not the other way round?
 
Jacob Smith said:
I thought we were until it went over a certain number £60m if I remember correctly? Could be wrong and it could have just been Southampton bumping the price up!


If Ake isn’t intended to partner Laporte then it doesn’t fix our problem of having no partner for Laporte and we’d still need to go into the market for a top quality right-sided centre back?

I know Ake’s left footed but you see plenty of centre back pairings both right footed, so why not the other way round?
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It's obvious to everyone who follows the pattern of journalistic reporting in regards to City's transfer that we're after two center halves.
 
Mon Autre said:
Yeah I guess so, but I think Liverpool needed him more than we did and we also seemed just as happy to sign Laporte so I don't see Van Dijk as one that got away. Ultimately, Liverpool were in dire need of a top CB at the time and once they got someone it was always going to have transformative effect (along with the GK).

Signing Laporte instead of Van Dijk hasn't hurt us. The main problem for us was that Liverpool were strengthened because of it but you can't just buy players and disregard your own budget to stop other teams buying them (which is basically what United did with the likes of Sanchez and Fred).

I just think we made a mistake not bringing in another at the start of this season, but it sounds like we're definitely going to remedy that now.
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Couldn't agree more. Not to be a drama queen but my heart sank when it turned out we weren't buying a centreback last summer. I think it would have cost us even without Laporte's injury.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
Couldn't agree more. Not to be a drama queen but my heart sank when it turned out we weren't buying a centreback last summer. I think it would have cost us even without Laporte's injury.
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I think it was more image based...we didn’t want to spend big on two players (Rodri and another 50-65m player) after winning back to back titles. Maybe a mistake in hindsight but fitting for our long term plans.
 
Jacob Smith said:
In my opinion, this would be a decent short/medium term signing but not a “great” one.

He’s better than Stones and Otamendi, but after the last couple of seasons that’s not setting the bar particularly high. He’s also currently better than Garcia & THB, but obviously they both have big potential.

I wouldn’t say no to Ake as a rotation player, but I can’t see him forming a formidable partnership with Laporte and that’s ultimately what we’re looking for.

Not paying the asking price for Van Dijk was (with hindsight, of course) a huge mistake.
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Who’s to say van Dijk would be the same player at City? They defend with 8 players!
 
Jacob Smith said:
I thought we were until it went over a certain number £60m if I remember correctly? Could be wrong and it could have just been Southampton bumping the price up!


If Ake isn’t intended to partner Laporte then it doesn’t fix our problem of having no partner for Laporte and we’d still need to go into the market for a top quality right-sided centre back?

I know Ake’s left footed but you see plenty of centre back pairings both right footed, so why not the other way round?
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We are targetting 2 centre backs, seems to be Ake as back up Koulibaly to partner Laporte.
 
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