Bournemouth's Nathan Ake responds to Chelsea manager Antonio Conte: 'It's a short career'

Former Chelsea player Nathan Ake says he left the Blues in order to save his career.

The 22-year-old recently signed for Bournemouth in a club record £20m deal last month, following an impressive loan spell with the Cherries in the first half of the 2016/17 season.

Ake was called back to Stamford Bridge in January but only made five appearances, two of which came in the league.

The Dutchman then ended a six-year spell at Chelsea with a permanent move to Dean Court in the summer, having only made 17 appearances for the current league champions.

Chelsea coach Antonio Conte came under criticism for not trusting in his youth as Ake's departure was just one of many including the likes of Bertrand Traore, Nathaniel Chalobah and Dominic Solanke.

However, the Italian defended his decision by claiming that today's youth have no patience: "Sometimes I think the young players lose their patience very quickly, because of parents or the people around these players. The advisers are not right. You have to fight with this. The first thing players should have is good patience. Trust the club and work very hard to know that to play at this level you must be stronger."

Ake responded, claiming that while he understands Conte's comments, he had to leave the Blues in order to continue playing games and growing as a player.

"It is a short career," Ake said, as quoted on the Bournemouth Echo. "I am 22 and have had good experience of playing over the past two years and you just want to continue that."

"I understand what he said but I think we also know Chelsea is a big club and it is going to be difficult to come in and play straight away. That's why I made the decision to come here, to maybe be able to play more games and that's what I need in my career.

"There are no guarantees anywhere that you are going to get in the team, that's 100 per cent. You still have to train hard and play well. Hopefully, I can be in the team from the start of the season."