Nathan Ake insists the decision to join Bournemouth was to 'play more games' as defender failed to feature much under Antonio Conte at Chelsea

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Nathan Ake admits he does not believe he would have been given a chance by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte in the near future which forced him to leave.

The 22-year-old centre-back instead joined Bournemouth in June in a £20million deal, returning to the club where he spent the first half of last season in a hugely successful loan spell.

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe wanted to keep the defender for the whole season but Conte activated a clause in the deal to bring him back in January with Chelsea in need of cover at the back.

Defender Nathan Ake will be hoping for plenty of game time this season at Bournemouth 

Ake, who has two Holland caps, was initially excited to receive the call from his manager but was left frustrated when he made only five appearances — just two of those in the Premier League — and took the decision to leave the club to stand any chance of playing regular first-team football in the top-flight.

‘The decision to come here was to be able to play more games which is important for me and that is why I came here,’ Ake said, after starring in Bournemouth’s pre-season friendly defeat to Valencia on Sunday. ‘There are no guarantees that I will play coming here but if I train hard and play well then I will have a chance.’

Italian Conte recently criticised Chelsea’s academy players after a series of them, all highly rated, chose to leave this summer. As well as Ake, Dominic Solanke, 19, let his contract expire and left for Liverpool, and Nathaniel Chalobah, 22, moved to Watford.

Ake failed to feature much under Antonio Conte after he was recalled by Chelsea in January

‘Sometimes I think the young players lose their patience very quickly,’ Conte said last week. ‘A lot of the time because of parents or the people around them. I think the advisers aren't right.

‘The first thing they should have is good patience. Trust the club. Then work very hard to know that to play at this level you must be stronger - and very good. Sometimes, young players think they can play easily in the first team, but that's not true. I have to pick 11 players. Not only me, every coach.’

But Ake said: ‘It is a short career, I’m 22 now and I feel like I have had a good experience playing games and you just want to continue doing that. I understand what [Conte] said but I think we also know that Chelsea is a big club and for myself it was going to be difficult to come in and play straight away.’ 

Ake and his Bournemouth team-mates begin their Premier League season against West Brom