It would appear that the Swansea star may well be City bound following the 2 clubs opening negotiations in the past 48 hours. A move to one of the world’s best clubs could be hard to resist but perhaps for the sake of his career, Bony should do just that.
Manchester City has been a graveyard of promising players careers in the past few years. Roque Santa Cruz, Micah Richards, Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell have all fallen victims of the clubs reckless transfer recruitments. They have signed good players to just make up the numbers and possibly act as cover if the worst should happen. Hoping that the allure of substantial sums of money will be persuasion enough for them to take up such roles.
Wilfried Bony is a very good player but he is untried at the top level and with such an array of top striking talent at the club, you wonder if he could be the latest player to be hired and then placed on the bench for the majority of his City career. Yes James Milner has been playing up front in recent times due to injuries which have ravaged their front line but when all are back fit and firing, they have an immensely strong set of goal scorers. Sergio Aguero is one of the world’s very best players, Stevan Joevtic has complimented him nicely and is a talented young player in his own right. Edin Dzeko has been a good servant for the club and has proved to be a real goal-getter down the years in the sky blue shirt. Is Bony guaranteed first-team football?
Having not done it at the top level before, you don’t know how he’ll react to being at such a big club when the expectations rise. Will he seem like such a quality player playing around a host of other top players? Many have shone for some of the divisions lesser sides and then struggled to make the step up to one of the Premier League’s elite. With so much competition, it might be difficult for Bony to get the time he will need to find his feet and if he goes through a bad run, the strength of his fellow strikers might resign him to extended spells on the side lines. A far more sensible move at first would be to the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs, clubs who have been constantly monitoring his situation and clubs where he would encounter far less competition and be allowed time to flourish with slightly lower expectations than at the reigning champions. Moving to one of those clubs would be an easier step up for a player untested at a big team.
What’s more, people have been saying how much City are in need of a striker with so many injuries, but they seem to be forgetting that Bony is heading off to the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast before he will next be available to play in the Premier League. He is competing for one of the competitions most fancied teams also, so the likelihood is that he will return about as late as possible. By this point all the Citizens stricken front men will most likely have recovered and be back in the first team fold. Meaning he may have to wait for his time rather than being thrown straight in due to lack of options and will be of less immediate use to Manuel Pellegrini. When you sign a player in January, you want him to be available for selection almost straight away, so if he won’t be in the country for a month that may be a bit frustrating for all concerned.
The size of the player’s wages at Manchester City means that if all doesn’t work out, virtually no one will take you because they can no longer afford your demands. That means no return to Swansea City if all doesn’t work out. You have to be sure that you will be a success at the club or find yourself isolated out of the transfer market as so many have been in recent times at the Etihad. Players are too egotistical and money driven nowadays to take a pay cut. Their agents are in their ears pestering them to make as much money as possible. It’s one of the main cancers of the modern game.
However, Bony is a wonderful player and could potentially be world class. He has all the attributes to make it the top, so he could well make a success of move up North. Although down the years, many big clubs have made the mistake of buying a player who seems the real deal at one of the so-called smaller sides and then had him turn out to be a flop. As big moves go, one to City for a player that isn’t established yet as truly world class talent, could be one of the most dangerous. The allure may be bright but as many ex-City players now trying to get their careers back on track elsewhere will tell you, it can prove to be a career destroying decision. Wilfried Bony has a big call to make!