Nathan Ake is latest sign of Antonio Conte’s vision for Chelsea’s loan army
By George Perry
Chelsea exercised a mid-season recall option in Nathan Ake’s loan contract to Bournemouth. Ake is the latest in a string of players who reveal Antonio Conte’s ambitions for the loan system he inherited.
Nathan Ake is the third player Antonio Conte has plucked from Chelsea’s loan system. The versatile Dutch defender is Conte’s boldest signal to the now-37 players on loan.
The negativity that Chelsea’s loan system engenders overshadowed Victor Moses’ and Nathaniel Chalobah’s accession to the first team. Their place on the squad was a footnote to the early weeks of the season.
Not until Antonio Conte shifted Chelsea to a 3-4-3 with Victor Moses at right wing-back did the audacity of his vision sink in. Conte did not retain Moses as a utility player. In a matter of weeks, Moses went from being a chronic loanee to the subject of transfer speculation with FC Barcelona.
While Moses took his place as a regular starter, Nathaniel Chalobah proved himself a reliable substitute. For a span during Chelsea’s win streak he displaced Cesc Fabregas as a backup midfielder. Fabregas leap-frogged Chalobah back into the starting XI, but Chalobah’s first start became an inevitability.
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Moses’ and Chalobah’s selection and subsequent success sent strong signals to Chelsea’s current crop of loanees. Under Antonio Conte, the loan army was no longer an end unto itself. It could be – for those players sufficiently talented and determined – a road to the first team.
Yes, the club would still turn a profit when it could from the sale of a loan player. But the loan system would finally be as much about player development as Financial Fair Play compliance.
Nathan Ake was enjoying a successful run with an ambitious Bournemouth under Eddie Howe. Conte chose to interrupt Ake’s (and Bournemouth’s, not that they were his concern) season. Conte would not recall Ake if he did not intend to give him sufficient playing time to continue his development.
"I called him back because I think he’s showing that he’s ready to stay in the squad of Chelsea. Chelsea is his home. In the last season he played with Watford, and this season he was with Bournemouth. He’s shown he deserves to stay at a great team like Chelsea. – Chelsea FC"
Most significantly for the players on loan and the future shape of Chelsea, Antonio Conte recalled Nathan Ake in the same week he said that the Blues do not need to purchase any centre-backs. Ake’s return gives Conte depth and options on defense. By not pursuing a transfer for a centre-back, Conte is indicating that Chelsea has sufficient players in their system to meet his needs over the next few years.
The prospect of promoting players from the loan army to the first team is a significant change for Chelsea. That Conte is willing to do so mid-season and as an explicit alternative to purchasing players is nearly revolutionary.
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Chelsea loanees now know that they truly are on a road that can take them to Stamford Bridge. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is facing the prospect of his first loan after years of being the next great Blue. Under Conte, a second-half loan is no longer the footballing version of the dustbin of history. Moses, Chalobah and Ake affirm that it is a chance to improve – and prove – yourself.