Sunday 17 May 2015 11:23, UK
As Wilfried Bony prepares to return to Swansea with Manchester City, we look back on his tough start to life at the Etihad...
It has been a frustrating start to life at the Etihad Stadium for Wilfried Bony, but it would be fitting for his Manchester City career to take off in the familiar surroundings of his former club Swansea City on Sunday.
Bony scored 25 goals in 54 Premier League appearances during his time at the Liberty Stadium, eventually convincing City to part with £28million for his signature in January. At that point City were neck and neck with Chelsea at the top of the table, but he returned from Ivory Coast’s victorious Africa Cup of Nations campaign to find their title hopes slipping away.
Playing opportunities have been limited since then, with Manuel Pellegrini preferring to deploy Sergio Aguero as his lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation which has served him well in the past. But after just one start in his first three months as a City player, Bony finally got off the mark in a 3-0 win over West Brom back in March.
“It is important for him because he has just arrived in our squad and he has come in from playing six games in 18 days in the African Cup of Nations,” said Pellegrini afterwards. “That is not good at this moment of the season for the players, and that is why he is not always in the starting XI.”
It seemed as though the muscular 26-year-old was finally ready for a run in the side, but a cruelly-timed ankle injury ruled him out of their next three games – including consecutive defeats to Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
“It has been a frustrating start and the recent injury hasn’t helped,” he told City’s official website earlier this month. “But I’m not going to use that as an excuse because as a footballer you have to take the good with the bad.”
Positives
Bony returned with late substitute appearances in City’s wins over Aston Villa and Tottenham, and on Sunday he played like a man with a point to prove after replacing Frank Lampard for the final half-hour of City’s rout of QPR. After striking the woodwork with one effort, an ingenious backheel to David Silva set up City’s sixth.
So while he is yet to get a run in the side, there have been positive signs for City’s £28million man, who has at least succeeded in jumping above Edin Dzeko in Pellegrini’s pecking order – the Bosnian has not made a single appearance since Bony’s return to fitness. The striker still has to prove himself at the Etihad, but his former Swansea team-mate Gylfi Sigurdsson is convinced he will be a long-term success.
“It's been tough because he went to the Cup of Nations and has been injured for a little bit, but I saw a nice assist from him with a backheel in his last game," Sigurdsson told the South Wales Evening Post ahead of Sunday’s game. "That shows he still has that confidence, hopefully he's getting a bit of form and I'm pretty sure next season it will be time for him. I'm confident he'll score a lot of goals for City."
I rate him as a decent goalscorer and with a run in the side he’ll score goals for Manchester City.
It’s a view held by Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier, too. The former Southampton star expects Bony to become a key player for City in the future – as long as he’s given a spell of games alongside Premier League top scorer Aguero.
“I rate him as a decent goalscorer and with a run in the side he’ll score goals for Manchester City as well,” Le Tissier told Sky Sports.
“He hasn’t really had his opportunities this season with just the two starts and the one goal but he needs a good pre-season to force his way into the team on a more regular basis.
“There’s definitely a possibility to see him and Aguero up top together as Pellegrini has often used a 4-4-2 in the past.”
Moving on
While Bony is still finding his way in his new surroundings, however, Swansea have wasted no time in moving on. Monday’s 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium was their fifth in seven games, and they now sit just two points behind sixth-placed Tottenham with two games to play.
In the absence of their former talisman, five goals from Bafetimbi Gomis have helped Swansea go from strength to strength in recent months.
Bony would surely love to remind Swansea what they’re missing on Sunday. He might have hoped to return to his former club with goals under his belt and the Premier League title in sight, but it would be unfair to throw him on the transfer scrapheap after such a disrupted start at his new club.
A goal against his former side would be a big step in the right direction, and Bony certainly knows a thing or two about finding the net at the Liberty Stadium.
Watch Swansea v Manchester City live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 12.30pm this Sunday
