SWANSEA v NEWCASTLE BONY THE
Wilf: I’m not a £28m flop ... I had an injury nightmare at City which meant I couldn’t play properly
WILFRIED BONY is a mildmannered strongman, but he will pick a fight with anyone who suggests he was a £28million flop at Manchester City.
The Ivorian – who once left Garry Monk with a broken finger when the former Swansea City manager poked him in the chest – is back at the club where he built his reputation for goals and gargantuan power.
Bony will be unleashed by the Swans at home to Newcastle today, admitting his pride was dented under Pep Guardiola, but insisting it was injuries, not ability, that undermined him.
“Was my pride hurt? Yes,” says Bony, who managed just six Premier League goals at City and only two more on loan at Stoke last season.
“I went to City and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I didn’t have the capacity to do more. My problem at City was the injuries I had.
“It stopped me from playing and training as I wanted to.
“They said to me to try again and then try again to turn it around.
Niggling
“I had some good moments from October to December in 2015, but then I got injured again and I didn’t play for almost one month.
“I came back for the League Cup final against Liverpool, but then I had more injuries and it was quite difficult.
“All the players talked to me. They said to me, ‘You can change this’. But there was not one month when I was not injured.
“I can say now that it was bad luck. I had to deal with it and move forward.
“Now, I said to myself, when you go back to Swansea – push yourself harder than before.
“I will focus on training and work hard here to try to take that into the games.”
The 28-year-old managed 36 league games at the Etihad as a succession of niggling ailments blunted sharpness that had brought 34 goals in 70 matches in his first spell with the Swans.
But he was already stamped for sale or return long before Guardiola arrived at City and believes the sheer breadth of City’s involvement on so many fronts always thwarted his recovery.
“Of course, it was frustrating. When you come from a team where you play every week, and go to somewhere like Manchester City and you know you’re not going to play every week. Clubs like City want to win the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Champions League.
“You’re involved in everything, so I didn’t have as much time to train there as I did with Swansea.
“It was a complete change. I signed, then I went to the Africa Cup of Nations and we won there.
“I went two weeks without training and when I came back, the weather was completely different.
“You need to be at 100 per cent at a club like City and sadly, for me, it wasn’t possible. But I don’t regret it. I’m learning from there and I know now what it’s like to be in the top four. “Of course, I am always improving and I was working with very good players at City.
“You can always t ake something from them and training with guys like Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic – it was a great experience.
“Then there were guys like Yaya Toure, David Silva. I learned a lot from them and I hope this can help me and help Swansea.”
Bony will not be the only new recruit boss Paul Clement sends into battle as Renato Sanches, their eye-catching loan arrival from Bayern Munich, will also feature.
Repair
Like Bony, Sanches comes as an emotional repair job for Clement after the 20-year-old managed just six starts for Bayern last season after a move worth a potential £60m from Benfica a year ago.
Clement says: “If you speak to any player who’s not getting selected, he will be feeling down and not feeling confident.
“We can help Renato, absolutely. But like any player, they have to get out there and deliver in training and then in the games as well.
“There will have to be a certain amount of patience we show with him, given what’s happened to him in the last season.
“But he’s going to be hungry to do really well this season, so that he can perform at a much higher level next season in European football.
“He is also going to want his place back in the Portuguese national team.
“He’s lost his place and he’s already played in a Euro final, so that must hurt.
“It’s World Cup year in 2018 so it must be a massive motivation for Renato.”
I toldld myself that back at Swansea I must push myself harder than when I was with the club before