MANCHESTER // Four months, two starts, one goal — Wilfried Bony’s Manchester City career can seem one of diminishing returns.
As he goes back to Swansea City for the first time on Sunday, he is aware what his critics’ verdict will be.
“They’ll say: ‘He’s not playing there at City, only a couple of minutes, he should not have left’,” Bony predicted, probably correctly. “But this is part of football, it is what it is. You can’t be loved by everyone.”
The Ivorian is set to discover quite how many in Wales still like the man who delivered 34 goals in 70 games during 18 months at Swansea, earning him the statistical distinction of being the Premier League’s leading marksman in the calendar year of 2014 and a £25 million (Dh144.5m) move to City.
“I hope they will give me a nice reception,” he said. “There will be some who are happy to see me and some not.”
Absence may not have made the heart grow fonder. Swansea have not bought a striker, but it is hard to argue they are missing Bony.
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They have won seven of their past 11 games to set a club record points tally in the Premier League. They could qualify for the Europa League, a prospect that seems to irritate manager Garry Monk.
The notion their season ended with the star striker’s sale has been emphatically denied.
Meanwhile, the campaign of Bony’s new employers tailed off after his arrival; if he was bought to swing the title race City’s way, he has failed.
Admittedly, Juan Cuadrado, Chelsea’s 2015 acquisition, has had a still more negligible impact as they became champions so perhaps supposed catalysts have cancelled each other out in ill-fated beginnings to life at new clubs.
But Bony’s has been a stop-start spell at the Etihad Stadium, interrupted by the African Cup of Nations, injury and a change in tactics.
“It’s been a difficult time here at City, but this is football. I can’t choose the international programme, I can’t choose the time to be injured,” said the man who is both Swansea’s record signing and sale.
At the moment, he is a multimillion-pound substitute, an expensive adornment in dugouts, yet it is often the case that January signings only really settle into the side the following season. “We didn’t bring Bony just for this year,” coach Manuel Pellegrini said.
They will see the best of him in his first full campaign at the club, Bony hopes.
“I just need to prepare myself for next season,” he said. “We’ll see how I do then.”
Pellegrini is optimistic. "He will be a very important player for the future," the coach said.
There are occasional encouraging signs amid the cameos: eight of Bony’s 10 appearances have come as a replacement and he is showing he is more than mere muscle.
A delightful backheel that led to David Silva scoring City’s sixth goal against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday was a sign he has the understanding and the imagination to dovetail with City’s technical talents. Despite his imposing build, Bony is not just a battering ram.
“It’s about me trying to adapt to the way City play,” the 26-year-old striker said. The potential hitch is the switch in system.
Pellegrini has tended to be an advocate of 4-4-2 but Sergio Aguero’s prowess as a lone striker, which is evident in his return of eight goals in his past five games, limits the opportunities for the target men who used to provide a physical presence alongside the Argentine in attack.
There may only be room for one in the City squad next season but Bony at least comes off the bench before Edin Dzeko, offering a hint that the out-of-form Bosnian is being ushered towards the exit.
In uncertain times, Bony is one of the few who seems certain to have a future.
But while he tries to persuade his friend Yaya Toure to stay, the forward said: “They are waiting for me to do it.”
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