CHERRIES defender Nathan Ake said he was “mentally strong enough” to deal with any transfer speculation and was not affected by January rumours.

The 24-year-old was heavily linked with a return to former club Chelsea, with the Stamford Bridge side understood to have held a £40million buy-back clause on him until the end of last month.

Sky Sports also claimed in December that Manchester City were interested in rivalling the Blues for Ake’s signature.

But the Cherries defender insisted his full focus was always on Cherries and added “you can’t do anything about the articles being written”.

Cherries kept hold of their key personnel for the business end of the campaign, as they look to secure Premier League survival.

Asked by the Daily Echo about transfer links after he scored the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa, Ake said: “I was always focused on Bournemouth anyway so it didn’t really affect me.

“These transfer situations, there is always going to be talk and stuff like that and people expect you to leave.

“But the only thing you can do is perform on the pitch, train every day as hard as you can and see what happens.

“Nothing happened, so we go again.”

Ake has been linked with an array of big clubs after delivering stand-out performances since signing for Cherries in 2017.

And he believes that speculation is par for the course of being a Premier League player.

“I think you just have to accept it. I think it has been over the past few years now,” he added.

“You can’t do anything about the articles being written and things like that. You just have to remain focused, don’t let it distract you and just keep going.

“Sometimes you see stuff on social media. I am not going to deny that but I am mentally strong enough to deal with that.”

The defender has recently recovered from a hamstring injury to play 90 minutes in Cherries’ past four league games.

He has started 20 times in the top-flight this season.

Manager Eddie Howe said: “Nathan is such an important player at both ends of the pitch for us – he has always scored important goals.

“First and foremost he is a defender who reads the game well and he is pivotal to what we do, so keeping him was huge and keeping Joshua (King) as well was hugely important.

“Your best players make a big difference and we are going to need everyone because nothing is decided.

“We are still in a relegation battle and we are going to need those guys more than ever.”