Manchester City defender Nathan Ake has joined the ranks of the walking wounded while on Netherlands duty, returning to his Premier League club with a muscle injury.
Ake left the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw with Spain after just five minutes, and manager Frank de Boer said the injury was enough to send the player back to England.
The 25-year-old center back tweeted, “Frustrating night. Hope to be back soon” after the match. The Dutch were already without Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt due to injury.
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Ake cost City a reported $52 million this summer and he’s played six times for Pep Guardiola this season, most recently in a 3-0 win over Olympiakos in the Champions League.
He appeared in City’s first four PL matches but has been unused in the last three as Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte have established themselves as City’s top center back duo.
But we’ve learned plenty about the value of center back depth between Laporte’s injury last season at City and the current situation at Liverpool. The Reds announced knee surgery for Joe Gomez on Thursday, saying they are hopeful the back can return before the end of the season.
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Nathan Ake returns to Man City after injury with Netherlands originally appeared on NBCSports.com
