'Only thing I can do is fight and try to get opportunities' - Ake

5 days ago 2

Manchester City defender Nathan Ake says he will continue to "fight" for a place in Pep Guardiola's squad because playing minutes for the club means he also remains in contention for the Netherlands national team.

There has been speculation in recent weeks that Ake could depart City in this January transfer window after only starting two Premier League games this season.

One of those was against Sunderland on Thursday and Ake has also spoken to Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman who has told him he needs to be playing more minutes to justify being called up for international duty ahead of the summer World Cup.

Speaking to the media, Ake said: "The only thing I can say is I keep fighting every time. You want to play every game.

"I'm not going to say I should play every game because Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O'Reilly and the whole defence have been doing fantastic, but every player wants to get minutes so the only thing I can do is fight and try to get opportunities.

"We will see in the future what happens.

"He [Koeman] has said to me a few times that he wants me to play more and sometimes it is difficult to call me up if I don't play a lot. That's obvious.

"I have to keep going and wait for chances."

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