Nathan Aké has announced on Wednesday that the injury he sustained in March did him good. The Manchester City defender had been playing with physical complaints for months. “It wasn’t running, it wasn’t turning.”
Aké sustained a foot injury in early March during a cup match against Plymouth Argyle and had to undergo surgery. Now he is back with the Dutch national team, after an absence of nine months.
Until the cup match against Plymouth, Aké had been dealing with, among other things, a hamstring injury and a stress fracture in his foot. Painkillers were a necessity with the killer schedule in England, with the Premier League, the Champions League and two cup tournaments.
Because surgery proved necessary in March, the patching up came to an end. “It may be strange to say. But this finally gave me rest to get fit,” said the thirty-year-old Aké on Wednesday in Zeist to the ANP.
“At City we had so many injuries that I started too quickly every time. I wasn’t forced to do that. I felt it was necessary. It wasn’t running, it wasn’t turning.”
City had a mediocre season, lost remarkably many points and quickly had to give up in the title race. In the Champions League, trainer Pep Guardiola’s team was eliminated in the intermediate round, albeit by Real Madrid.
‘Looking forward to Club World Cup’
After a decent end to the season, City still finished third in the Premier League. As a result, the winner of the 2023 Champions League will ‘simply’ compete in the lucrative cup tournament next season, despite a significant setback. “That was very important,” said Aké.
Yet the season for City is not over yet. Later this month, Aké’s team will participate in the Club World Cup. In exactly two weeks, the Moroccan Wydad will be the first opponent.
“I’m fit again and I think it’s an important tournament for our club,” says Aké. “I’m looking forward to it, but for guys who have played everything with Internazionale, for example, that may feel different after a Champions League final.”
The Club World Cup will be held in the United States and will include no fewer than 32 participating clubs.