Wilfried Bony has been waiting for an opportunity at the Etihad for a whole season and he doesn’t look any closer to playing, so could he make a reunion with some old friends?
Some strikers quickly make their name in the Premier League but it is not easy to stay at the top once you’ve had a big move.
Wilfried Bony, 28, is still quietly waiting to get more use out of his number 14 shirt at Manchester City having signed for them in 2015. But with Gabriel Jesus swiftly moving to the top of Pep Guardiola’s must pick list, Bony is fast becoming the forgotten man. Yet, Bony still wants to show his worth at Manchester City, according to SkySports.
Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony
How might that be possible? Last season Bony was sent out on loan at Stoke City and he didn’t exactly have a great time at the Potters, scoring two goals in 11 games. Since leaving Swansea City in January 2015, the striker has found life in the Premier League a shadow of what it was when he was running a riot in front of goal for Swansea most weeks.
But Bony believes he can make a success of his move to Manchester because he has not changed.
“Leading goalscoring two years ago, it’s still me, nothing has changed, just a difficult time. I just want to show them I can do more than that so I just need to get myself ready,” he told SkySports of his Manchester City chances.
Arguably though he should be getting himself ready for a loan move or a new club. Pep Guardiola is already linked with bringing in more striker reinforcements and for some time, SkySports has linked the Sky Blues with Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez.
The options for Bony should primarily be to stay in the Premier League, but his Stoke adventure won’t have encouraged many interested parties. He could even try and see if Swansea might be interested to take him back. If Gylfi Sigurdsson was sold this would release more than adequate funds for such a deal. But things have changed, Paul Clement is now the manager at the Liberty stadium.
Wilfried Bony sees another chance go wide for Stoke City
Still, if Borja Baston leaves Swansea, there could be an opening. The former Atletico Madrid striker was set for priority talks this summer, according the BCC.
Meanwhile, Bony’s former manager Garry Monk is at Middlesbrough and such a move their looks less likely with the drop down to the Championship.
Bony can’t afford to be downhearted, which is perhaps why he hopes to see out his contract at Manchester. But he can also probably see he may be running out of options in England.
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