Swansea may soon be seeing the back of Wilfried Bony who is close to sealing a move to Manchester City
According to , reigning Premier League champions Manchester City are close to sealing a £30million deal for Swansea striker Wilfried Bony.
The Ivorian is set to head for the Africa Cup of Nations that starts on January 17th.
However, Sky claim that the two clubs have held formal discussions over the player and Bony is expected to have a medical later today before joining up with his national side.
Goals
Wilfried Bony is a natural born goal poacher and has scored goals throughout his career. His first port of call in Europe was at Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic, where he scored 22 times in 59 appearances in the Czech top-flight.
His scoring record in the Czech capital was enough to persuade Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem to sign him and he went on to score 46 goals in 65 Eredivisie appearances, which at any standard of league is a very good goalscoring return.
The step-up in standard was inevitable and in 2013 Bony made the move to Premier League Swansea. His 25 goals in 54 Premier League appearances make him the Swans record ever Premier league scorer.
The 26-year-old fired home 16 goals in the top-flight in his debut season and so far this season has scored nine top-flight goals. In fact Bony scored more Premier League goals in 2014 than any other player, including the likes of soon-to-be teammate Sergio Aguero and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.
There is no doubt about it the guy knows where the net is and it is pretty difficult to stop the Ivory Coast international when on form.
Attributes
The striker has similar attributes to that of Aguero, as he is quick, strong and powerful. However, Bony does have the slight edge when it comes to height and scoring goals with his head. Bony may not be as talented as the Argentine, but he does have talent and that invaluable ability of finding space and time to score goals.
Returning
Manchester City are currently short of strikers with Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko both currently sidelined. Montenegrin Stevan Jovetic has also only just returned to the City team after recovering from injury himself.
Aguero and Dzeko are expected to return to action later this month, so that means that if City signs Bony as expected then they will have four international strikers all competing for the striker roles.
City were of course in this situation last season, before Alvaro Negredo decided he wanted to move back to Spain with Valencia. If City do end up with four strikers it is unlikely all four will stay happy.
The timing of the deal also seems strange, as Bony could be away on international duty until mid-February, by which time the likes of Dzeko and Aguero could be fully-fit and firing. If Bony wants regular first team football he is going to the wrong club, although as part of the City squad he does have a decent chance of picking-up silverware.
Profit
The £30million sale of Wilfried Bony will land Swansea a good profit. The Swans paid just £12million for the striker when he joined from Vitesse, so the Welsh side have almost tripled their original outlay.
The Swans are a very well run club and do not live beyond their means. The sale of Bony is likely to give boss Garry Monk scope to spend some money strengthening his squad in January, or in the summer.
They will be losing their top scorer though and his goals will be very hard to replace. France international striker Bafetimbi Gomis has struggled for goals, although he has also had to play second fiddle to Bony for much of the campaign.
Needed?
I am a big fan of Wilfried Bony and think he could add something to any team in the Premier League. However, the question is will Bony be needed with their strikers due back to full fitness in the next few weeks.
City have already got in trouble for overspending and been punished, so £30million on a player who may be warming the bench in a months’ time could be a gamble by City boss Manuel Pellegrini.
We want your thoughts on Wilfried Bony’s prospective move to City. Will he be a good signing for the Citizens?
