阿奇：我沒有偶像，我走我自己的路 - 切爾西足球俱樂部 Chelsea Football Club

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4185590/

Chelsea defender Nathan Ake has been compared to Ruud Gullit after
breakthrough season but he isn't getting carried away: 'I never really had
heroes... I play my own game'

By Matt Barlow - Updated: 09:20 GMT, 3 February 2017


Nathan Ake was sunning himself in the Canary Isles when Antonio Conte
called.


'I had three days off because I wasn't in Bournemouth's FA Cup squad,'
explained Ake. 'I was in Gran Canaria with my missus and the phone rang.
It was the manager saying, "Can you come back?"


'If the manager calls to say you've done well and he wants you back then
it is good, it's a positive sign.


'But I felt a bit nervous to be honest. I hadn't been at Chelsea for a
long time. I left two years ago. It felt like a long time and I wasn't
sure how it would be.'


Old friends and a new boss were ready to embrace the 21-year-old on return
from his loan spell, however, and he was on the bench against Hull and
played for 90 minutes in the FA Cup fourth round against Brentford. It was
his first Chelsea start since a League Cup tie at Shrewsbury in October
2014.


'The manager said he sees me in different positions, as a left wing-back
and a left centre back,' said Ake, who can also operate in midfield. 'He
told me to train well and wait for my opportunities. The first one in the
FA Cup went quite well. It can always be better.


'Hopefully I can get more chances to express myself and show what I've
learned over the last couple of years. That's my main aim. I don't want to
look too far ahead.


'This is the road I took. It was a difficult one because everybody said it
would be impossible to break through here. That's why I want to break
through. Just to show it is possible.'


Progress has been rapid since he made it into the Bournemouth team in
November and Chelsea triggered a release clause at the start of last
month.


That did not stop Eddie Howe trying to re-sign him on a permanent basis.
Transfer chatter erupted when Ake was absent from the team-sheet at
Liverpool on deadline day, even though he was at Anfield as part of the
squad.


He had become a man in demand, catching the eye for reasons other than his
dreadlocked mop and striking resemblance to Holland and AC Milan legend
Ruud Gullit.


'Everywhere I go people will say: 'Hey look, it's Gullit's son',' said
Ake. 'Of course, he is a big character in Holland but not really a player
I watched. I'm too young.


'I've had my hair like this since I was about 12. First it was shorter and
my dad used to do it for me every morning. Then it was my first tournament
away in another country and he couldn't be there. And he made me dreads so
I didn't have to do anything with it.'


Ake and Gullit met for the first time on Thursday when the former Chelsea
player-manager visited the training ground to conduct an interview for a
Dutch TV channel.


'He said he'd been watching me and thought I'd done well and hopefully I
can maybe make it into the national team as well,' said Ake, a Dutch Under
21 international.


'There has been some interest from the Ivory Coast but I want to try and
progress with Holland. It would be a dream to play for Holland. Hopefully
they're watching.'


Ake was born in The Hague, starting out with ADO Den Haag, before moving
to Feyenoord at the age of 12. Three years later, he agreed to join
Chelsea after playing against them in the Willem II youth tournament.


'It was a good tournament for me,' he said. 'We made it to the final and
played against Chelsea and I scored, playing midfield, box-to-box. We lost
on penalties.'


He was invited to the club with his family and met Didier Drogba.


'He was training outside,' said Ake. 'We saw him and he came over to say
hello. My Dad is a shy person but he was more shy than usual; a bit
intimidated, I think. His family is from the Ivory Coast and Drogba is a
big hero. Drogba just said: 'If you want to win trophies and be at a big
club then join us'.'


Ake did just that but not because Drogba told him to. He has always been a
young man with an independent mind.


'I'm not really one for following other people,' he said. 'I never really
had heroes. I play my own game. I like to take chances. This was what I
wanted. I know it's not easy at a big club like this.'


There have been three loans spells: a brief one at Reading and a solid
season at Watford playing regularly at left back. Then to Bournemouth
where it started slowly.


'The first two months were quite difficult because I wasn't playing,' said
Ake. 'There was the mental side of coming through it. I could have said I
wanted to come back and go somewhere else.


'I'd gone there to play and was frustrated but I stayed to fight and wait
for my chance. I was trying to work hard and be ready.'


The chance came at Stoke in November with Adam Smith suspended. Ake came
in at centre half to score the game's only goal. Then he shone at Arsenal
and scored a late winner against Liverpool.


'I got confidence and the trust of the manager and everything was
flowing,' said Ake. 'Every game I was learning more, picking up little
things, watching clips and talking to the manager. I felt as if I was
growing into a better player.'


There were calls from Eddie Newton and Paulo Ferreira — coaches
responsible for Chelsea's loan players — and supportive messages from
captain John Terry.


'JT texted a couple of times after games when he'd watched on telly to
say, 'Good game, well done, keep doing your work',' said Ake. 'It's nice,
especially from a big character, a great player who has done everything
in the game. It was good to know people were watching and I had that
connection.'


More importantly, Conte was watching, too, and the Italian liked the look
of the versatile left-sided defender. What's more, he would cost the club
nothing more than the price of a call to the Canaries.

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當我漫遊在斯坦弗森林時，我看見了雀爾西，米爾斯的女兒，在傍晚初升的明月中，
在泰晤士河旁一處林地空間上翩然舞蹈。所有痛苦的記憶都離開了我，我像落入迷離
幻境中一般，因為雀爾西是伊露維塔兒女中最美的一位。她身上那襲藍色的衣裳宛如
萬里無雲的晴空，她灰色的眼睛像是傍晚群星閃爍的天空；她的斗篷上繡著金色的花
朵，她的頭髮漆黑如暮色中的陰影。她的榮光與美好，就像樹葉上的光芒，像是潺潺
流水，像是這迷離世界上方閃爍的繁星；她臉上有閃亮的光輝。

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