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Manchester City defender Nathan Ake has been linked with a January move away from the club amid a lack of game time.
Nathan Ake has been told he needs to play more football to secure his World Cup spot by Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman. The Manchester City defender was coy about a potential move in the January transfer window with six months before the showpiece international tournament in the summer.
Ake is a senior figure under Koeman and that counts for a lot, yet at the same time the coach has mentioned publicly the player's frustration at a lack of minutes at the Etihad. Ake revealed after the Premier League draw with Sunderland that he has been told it has been 'difficult' to select him with others ahead of him in the City pecking order.
The 30-year-old made just his third Premier League start of the season at the Stadium of Light and must battle with Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias - as well as Abdukodir Khusanov and the currently injured John Stones - for a place in the team. His situation has raised the possibility of a January move with a number of clubs interested as Dutch boss Koeman looks on.
"He has said to me a few times actually that he wants me to play more and sometimes it is difficult to call me up if I don't play a lot, that's obvious," said Ake. "Every player wants to play as much as possible while also appreciating that the team is doing really well and the players in my position are doing really well so I have to keep going and wait for chances.
"The only thing I can say is I keep fighting every time. You want to play every game, I'm not going to say I should play every game because Ruben, Josko, Nico [O'Reilly] and the whole defence have been doing fantastic but every player wants to get minutes so the only thing I can do is fight and try to get opportunities like today and we will see in the future what happens."
City would like to keep hold of an experienced player and his reading of the game at Sunderland helped the team to navigate a difficult game at a ground where no away team have picked up three points this season in the Premier League. As impressive was Ake's recovery from an injury he picked up in the third minute, with Gvardiol ready to replace him before he brushed off the issue and played the full match.
"I twisted my knee and felt something weird the whole game actually every time I passed," he said. "We'll see but I think if you can carry on for 90 minutes it should be fine."
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