Chelsea still have a buy-back clause on star PL defender

Premier League giants Chelsea still have the option of re-signing their former defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth. 

It has been confirmed that their buy-back clause for the highly sought-after defender still remains active. 

At the time of the sale of the Dutch international to the Cherries in 2017, the Blues included the option to buy him back to Stamford Bridge for £40 million. 

It was widely reported that option expired when the transfer window closed at the end of last month but now it is understood that that is not the case. 

It means that Frank Lampard still has time to make a decision on whether the time is right to take the 24-year-old back to Chelsea over the summer. 

A host of clubs in the Premier League have been keeping tabs on Ake who has established himself as one of the top defenders outside the big teams. 

Bournemouth are aware of the fact that they face a fight to keep hold of the 24-year-old, whether they manage to escape relegation or not this season. 

But it is Chelsea who retain the first refusal on the centre-back, and Lampard now has another six months to decide if he wants Ake back in West London. 

The priority for the Blues boss in January was to go after attacking targets but that also did not materialize. 

The 41-year-old manager wanted to bring someone in to help take the goalscoring burden off Tammy Abraham but the Blues could not sign a single player during January despite seeing their transfer ban lifted. 

Failing to land a single player during the winter transfer window led to frustrations of the manager and he even went public with that. 

It is believed that Ake would be an option in the close season and Lampard is considering whether to exercise the buy-back option or not. 

Chelsea are expected to be one of the most active clubs next summer when the transfer window reopens and Ake could be one of their primary targets.

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