Throughout his loan spell at Watford Nathan Ake has shown maturity beyond his years.

So it came as little surprise that the young defender was barely fazed at having to play out of position against Premier League leaders Leicester City yesterday.

The Dutchman was named in the Hornets' starting XI against the Foxes at left-back but an injury to Miguel Britos meant a change was required. 

With no other options available to Watford head coach Quique Sanchez Flores, he had to move Ake to centre-back. 

Some players may have been flustered by the switch, especially as they would be going up against the Premier League’s striker of the season, Jamie Vardy.

But in the opening ten minutes Ake made two crucial interceptions to keep Watford level.

The Chelsea loanee would go on to produce an impressive display despite the Hornets suffering a 1-0 defeat.

“Britos told me before going out for the warm-up that he might not be able to play,” Ake explained.

“And when he went onto the pitch it was 100 per cent (that he couldn’t).

“So I had to switch my mind quickly. But Seb (Sebastian Prödl) and all the other guys helped me a lot.

“I knew how to play centre-back because I played it a lot for the Under-18s at Chelsea. But it came to the point that I was a bit too small to play there.

“So since then I got pushed forward to midfield and then this season I’ve played left-back. So I knew a bit about how to play in the middle even though I hadn’t done so for a while.”

There is little doubt Watford would want to make Ake’s loan switch from Chelsea permanent if the opportunity arose.

However, the Blues are unlikely to be willing to cash in on the 21-year-old who has proven this season he is more than capable of performing in the top flight.

Ake comes across as a coach’s dream. He has no ego and is always willing to learn and improve.

“It (playing centre-back) was a good learning curve for me,” he said.

“We defended well. They didn’t create that much but then neither did we. There were not many clear cut chances so defeat is difficult to take.”

Riyad Mahrez’s excellent goal eleven minutes into the second period ultimately settled the contest at Vicarage Road, although Ake felt Watford could’ve defended the situation better.

“The ball dropped and I think we needed to put pressure on him,” he said. “If you give him time you know what he can do.

“So it was difficult to take. After their goal we tried to play more football than we had in the opening minutes of the second half.

“We went forward but didn’t have true chances, it was more just corner kicks. We need to learn from this.”