Young Bonys proving chips off the old block
HE may be yet to pull on a Swansea City shirt in anger this season, but Wilfried Bony’s sons have been getting some game time under their belts in the club’s academy system.
The Ivory Coast striker returned to full training last week as he looks to complete his rehabilitation from the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered at Leicester in February.
His absence has proved a major talking point so far this season, but Graham Potter will hope he will soon be able to call upon the former Stoke and Manchester City striker.
But his sons Geoffroy and Orphee have been racking up the minutes in Swansea colours as part of the under-14 and under-12 sides at Landore.
Geoffroy, who can play as a striker or a winger, has played for the under-14s, but also stepped up to the under-16s on occasion, netting a fine goal for the latter in the Premier International Tournament game at Manchester City at the weekend.
He has even been compared to his father for his ability to hold the ball up, and the academy staff
speak highly of the attitude shown by Geoffroy and Oprhee.
Orphee has also played in forward positions, but there is a more openminded approach taken over what roles players will grow into at the younger age levels.
Geoffroy’s footballing talents had come to wider attention during Bony’s spell at Manchester City where his eldest child played a starring role in a pair of cup finals.
Playing for St Bede’s College – who have a close working relationship with the Citizens – he scored a hat-trick when their under-11 side beat Manchester Grammar School 4-1 in the final of the Association of Junior Independent Schools Cup in May 2016.
Last year Geoffroy scored a brace in the English Schools’ FA Small Schools’ Cup final as St Bede’s under-12s were beaten 3-2 by Greneway School from North Hertfordshire.
Bony senior revealed last year that his decision to return to the Liberty had partly been influenced by the desire of his two boys to go back to south Wales.
“I think my boys decided. They heard about the interest and said ‘Daddy you have to go back to Swansea’. So my boys chose Swansea,” he said at the time.
“There were other options - Lille, Fenerbahce and others – but most important was what my family said.”