Why Leicester City should’ve signed Bournemouth star Nathan Ake

Leicester City have been a team on the rise in the last couple of seasons since their miraculous title win in the 2015/16 season.

They played Champions League football in the following season and despite their poor form in the Premier League, they made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

They’ve always been very strong in the recruitment department and have moved on since selling the likes of N’golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez and most recently, Harry Maguire, who is now a Manchester United player.

Leicester have a fantastic young squad with a lot of very talented players but losing Harry Maguire will be a massive blow not just for their defence but also to the whole squad because of his leadership qualities.

Maguire is a fantastic personality, who is always ready to initiate attacks and even move into midfield if required.

They have Caglar Soyuncu and Filip Bencovic, but both will need time to settle into a new backline. Benkovic was on loan at Celtic under current Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers.

While Rodgers will have no trouble playing him, playing in the Premier League is very different to playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

Every little mistake will get punished in the league and the money that was received from the sale of Maguire should’ve been used and contingencies should have been planned for.

One player who was linked with Leicester and would’ve been a perfect replacement for Maguire was 24-year-old Dutch international and Bournemouth star, Nathan Ake.

Ake is a product of Chelsea’s prestigious youth academy that has been one of the best in Europe in the last couple of years. He didn’t get the game time during his time with Chelsea but has really honed himself into a fantastic centre-back at Bournemouth under the guidance of Eddie Howe.

Ake is a versatile player, who can play in other positions too apart from central defence. He can play as a holding midfielder and also as a left-back if required.

He’s very good aerially in both the boxes, is very good on the ball and has the recovery pace to be able to play in a high line as would be asked of Brendan Rodgers, who likes his teams to take the initiative and press high up the pitch.

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Conclusion

Leicester will be feeling the effects of not having a centre-half replacement as they were expected to battle the big-6 this season. Losing Maguire was a huge blow and the Foxes should have somehow signed Nathan Ake, who is proven and experienced in the Premier League.