Rise of a young star

Last night Middlesbrough hosted FA-Cup holders Chelsea in this years competition. A rather comfortable 2-0 away win for the Blues in the end, goals being scored by Moses and Ramires (arguments can be made that Torres got the final touch), but none of these mentioned players caught my attention any more than they usually do. Instead a Dutchman was my Man of the Match. Born in mid-february 1995, the newly-turned 18 year old Nathan Ake was a giant in defensive midfield for the Londoners. He hardly missed a pass, but even more importantly he made challenges so clean, you could of thought he had played at this level as long as the bush-haired Carlos Puyol. Ake reminds one a lot of teammate David Luiz, not only do they have rather unique similar hair-styles, but the lethalness that Luiz provides when closing in on an opponent. In one sense Ake was better than Luiz usually is. Luiz being rather renown for making silly mistakes in dangerous areas, Ake was flawless, beautiful ball control, making simple choices (as a defensive midfielder should) but without necessarily playing cowardly.
Naturally Middlesbrough are not either of the Manchester clubs, opponent wise, so the young Dutchman's future is far from gold and diamonds at this stage. But in my mind Ake will not have a problem will the majority of the Premier League clubs if he was put up against them tomorrow. I can't stress enough how talented this 18-year old is and how much I look forward to seeing him dominate the midfield area at Stamford Bridge for the next decade.
One thing worth mentioning is that apart from a stoppage time substitute this was Ake's first senior appearance, and I have never seen anyone dominate like that on a debut.