Chelsea scout Piet de Visser has urged the club to re-sign former defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth.
The Netherlands international switched from Stamford Bridge to Bournemouth for £20m in 2017, having struggled to break from the academy into the Chelsea first team.
But now that the West London side have backed their youth stars to play under new manager Frank Lampard, De Visser believes Nathan Ake should also be there alongside them.
Ahead of Chelsea’s game against Ajax in the Champions League, the blues scout told Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant: “Ake should have played for Chelsea by now. He’s so good.
“How often does he not score with his head? He has timing and insight. I hope they buy him back. That boy is perfect for them and he has played with Lampard.”
Nathan Ake was a star of the same Chelsea youth team as Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek that won the U21 development league in 2014.
Now a fully-fledged Netherlands international, he moved to Stamford Bridge as a 16-year-old from Feyenoord having been considered one of his country’s brightest prospects.
Ake spent time on loan to Reading and Watford before a season-long loan spell at Bournemouth was cut short in January 2018, brought back to the club by then Chelsea boss Antonio Conte to act as cover and gaining several first-team appearances.
But he was then sold permanently to Bournemouth after the Italian’s exit that summer and he has become an important player for Eddie Howe, making 88 appearances for the Cherries so far.
The 24-year-old defender made his 100th appearance for Bournemouth last weekend. With a transfer ban in place at Chelsea, Franj Lampard has relied on his academy stars to step up.
