Wilfried Bony’s Stoke City struggles suggests Everton move would’ve been disastrous

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The on-loan Manchester City striker has scored just twice for Stoke City – thankfully, Everton’s £15m move came to nothing.

Six months after Wilfried Bony plundered his way to a move to Manchester City, Edin Dzeko was forced out of the Etihad. And, while the Bosnian has plundered 30 goals in his second season at Roma, his eyes firmly set on the European Golden Boot, City farmed Bony out to Stoke City in a desperate attempt to recapture the form that earned him that £28 million move in January 2015, as reported by the BBC.

However, the fact that he has scored in just one of his eleven Premier League appearances for Mark Hughes side hardly bode well for the Ivorian’s long-term prospects under Pep Guardiola. Especially with Gabriel Jesus soaring before his injury and the prolific Enes Unal set to return at the end of the season after a loan with FC Twente.

“I want to know why I’m not playing,” Bony, who has not even featured on the bench in Stoke’s last four games, told the Daily Mirror. “It is a crazy situation. I do wonder sometimes why I came here.”

Perhaps his lack of game time has something to do with the fact that, at the start of the season, he appeared a shadow of the powerful hitman that scored for fun at Swansea. Dropping deep to link the play and always a threat inside the box, Bony was an excellent all-round centre-forward at the Liberty but those instincts appear to have deserted him under Mark Hughes.

All in all, Everton can be forgiven for believing they escaped lightly. The Sun reported in the summer that they were close to agreeing a £15 million deal for the striker, with negotiations close to completion.

And although Romelu Lukaku is badly in need of support with Enner Valencia inconsistent while Arouna Kone and Oumar Niasse are out-of-favour, Bony has done little to suggest that he could have taken the pressure off the Belgian.

Furthermore, he’s looked lethargic, almost lazy at times and Ronald Koeman dropped Ross Barkley for less. Sometimes no back-up striker is better than an overpriced, misfiring one.