- Moyes targets multi-Premier League champion for defensive summer rebuild.
- Versatile Dutch defender Nathan Ake emerges as ambitious £20m Everton target.
- Blues eye Man City star to solve crucial left-sided defensive puzzle.
David Moyes is casting his net wide for defensive options this summer – and it appears to have landed on a second Manchester City centre-back.
Having already been linked with an Everton homecoming for John Stones, Everton are now exploring a move for Netherlands international Nathan Ake, according to TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey.
City are reportedly open to offers in the region of £20m as they thin out a bloated squad, with Bournemouth – Aké’s former club – also circling.
Top-level experience with medals to show for it
Ake, 31, arrives with a CV few players on Everton’s radar can match: four Premier League titles, a Champions League medal, and 60-plus caps for the Dutch national team. His playing time at the Etihad has been limited over the past two seasons, but his quality has never been in doubt. Loads of top-quality internationals fail to get enough game time at Man City
What makes him attractive beyond the medals is his flexibility. Comfortable at centre-back or left-back, Ake could offer Moyes cover across several positions – always useful when you’re not armed with a Man City-type budget.
With only a year left on his contract, City have limited leverage, which explains the relatively modest asking price for a defender of his quality.
There are caveats. He has had his fair share of soft-tissue problems in the last few seasons and is, of course, the wrong side of 30, but Everton would be buying experience and know-how rather than someone with future sell-on potential.
Stones still on the radar … would Evertonians object?
Whether that trade-off works may well depend on how the rest of the window shapes up – and also whether a deal for Stones, whose return would be met with scepticism by some Evertonians, remains a more viable option.
But after years of scrambling for bargains and loans, the fact that Everton are even in the conversation for players of this calibre feels like further progress in the TFG and Hill Dickinson era.
If Moyes can land one City-standard defender, let alone two, it would mark, in the short-term, a significant upgrade on the current options available.
