18 November 2023 , 22:30
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Nathan Ake has revealed how Pep Guardiola gave him a shoulder to cry on when his father was dying.
Ake, 26, turned to his Manchester City manager for comfort when his dad Moise was losing his long battle with prostate cancer two years ago. The Dutch defender’s father passed away in September 2021, just a few minutes after watching his son score his first Champions League goal on TV.
Now Ake has thanked Guardiola for the support he gave him after admitting that his father’s illness cast a huge shadow over his career for a decade. It explodes the myth that the key to the Catalan’s incredible success is that football comes before everything.
Ake said: “I am grateful to Pep for all he means to me on and off the pitch. When my father passed away two years ago, he was fantastic for me. If I needed things or if I wanted time off, I just had to tell him. He gave me all the time and space I needed.
“I was about 16 when my father got the bad news. They told him ‘you have prostate cancer, it's spread all over your body and basically you are done.’ He was only 50 at the time and eventually got to 63. It was a sledgehammer blow when they told me. I was struggling at the time with school and football.
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“It was hard to swallow. At home, we didn't really talk about it. Life went on. My parents didn't want to share too much with us. I only found out afterwards what they had been through all these years. They never told me so as not to burden me with it.
Ake's father died the same night he scored his first Champions League goal (PA)“Things got a little better at one point. The cancer even seemed gone for a while. But in the last few years, it was back. Sort of under control, but it kept going up and down. Around the European Championships in 2021, my father still came to watch games - and then he really went downhill.”
Ake took to his Instagram account to confirm that his dad had died watching City beat RB Leipzig 6-3. He wrote: “No further treatment was possible. He passed away during the match, in the presence of my mother and my brother. Just after my first-ever Champions League goal.”
Ake has become a key player for Guardiola at City (Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)Ake had been unable to produce his best form for the Blues following his £41million arrival from Bournemouth in the summer of 2020. But the Dutchman’s form improved after his father was laid to rest.
And after City refused an offer from his former club Chelsea to take him back to Stamford Bridge, he became a key part of Guardiola’s Treble-winning team last season. Ake said: “Before my father passed away, things at City were not perfect for me. After he was gone, everything went up in an upward trend.
“I got a starting spot at City, we won everything there was to win, and I became a regular in the Dutch national team. Off the pitch things went well too. I got married and we had a great daughter. I think my dad had something to do with all of it. In my first season at City, Pep was great for me. I didn't perform as I should have. I was not quite myself.
“Guardiola could also have said ‘this is not really my player’ but he didn’t. He came to me and said ‘keep working hard, next year is a new season.’ He kept believing in me and always told me that I would become important for him. That trust was really fabulous - and last season everything fell into place. I can tell you that Guardiola is by far the best manager I have ever come across. I have learnt so much from him on the pitch.
“When you join City, football suddenly seems very different, but he makes you pick things up very quickly. But that human aspect, added to it, makes him absolutely fantastic.”