Manchester City have confirmed the signing of 26-year-old Wilfried Bony from Swansea City. The Ivorian striker joins on a four-and-a-half year deal for a fee of around £25 million, which could rise based on bonuses. He will go with his country to the African Cup of Nations alongside new teammate Yaya Touré before returning to help City in their fight against Chelsea for the Premier League title.
Bony comes in to help solve the problem Manuel Pellegrini has suffered from upfront with two injury-prone strikers in Sergio Agüero and Stevan Jovetić, but also because of his prolific scoring rate in a good Swansea side. Since signing for The Swans in the summer of 2013, Bony has scored almost a goal every two games in all competitions – a ratio most top-flight strikers would be pleased with.
With Bony being only 26, that gives City the opportunity of getting 3 or 4 good years out of the ex-Vitesse man. That gives him a long period of time to pay off the high fee that has brought City under fire from some in recent days.
Indeed, club and individual performances will decide just how much City will spend on Bony. The inital fee Swansea will be paid is £25 million, but this could rise to £28 million. However, for that to happen City must win all of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the next four seasons, and Bony must be involved in 60% of those games. In terms of wages, Bony will be paid a base salary of £75,000 per week, but this could rise to £100,000 per week with bonuses.
The Ivorian has 119 goals in just 231 games in his club career so far, and those stats could continue to blossom playing with some of the world’s best players in David Silva and Sergio Agüero.
Bony is likely to offer something different to Agüero and Jovetić, similar in a way to Álvaro Negredo did when he was at the club.
VIDEO: Wilfried Bony factfile courtesy of Blue Moon Rising TV
