Returns are welcome - but don’t raise your hopes:
“COME on Wilfried Bony” and “Viva Montero” made longawaited returns to the Swans songbook last week but fans should not get carried away just yet with the excitement of big-name returns.
Jefferson Montero made a stunning start to the Championship season but missed two months of action due to a thigh injury.
The Ecuadorian’s stint on the sidelines pales in comparison with Bony’s nine-month absence. The Ivorian suffered a serious knee injury away at Leicester in February which ruled him out of the remainder of Swansea’s final Premier League season, as well as the start of Graham Potter’s reign as manager.
Both players returned to the pitch in last week’s away victory against Bolton Wanderers and the travelling support was thrilled to see them.
Montero was a key player in the early stages of the season, tearing full-backs to pieces and picking up vital assists in the dramatic comebacks against Sheffield United and Millwall.
Bony is a Swans hero having scored 34 goals in 70 appearances during his first spell at the club. His return in the summer of 2017 did not have the intended impact but many fans hope that in a lower league the powerhouse striker can once again find his rhythm.
It’s no wonder fans are happy to see the two players back in the matchday squad – at their best they are capable of outclassing pretty much anybody in this division.
Montero’s early-season performances proved his blistering runs and dazzling feet are too much for Championship full-backs to handle. Meanwhile Bony showed brief glimpses last year of the old star, the player who could win a wrestling match just by standing still, the man whose shadow alone was capable of out-muscling even the strongest centre-backs.
There is of course a “but” coming up. These players have had difficult years of late due to loss of form and probably more importantly, injuries.
Montero’s entire time at Swansea has been hampered by niggling injuries. Every time he hits a good run of form he seems guaranteed to pick up some kind of knock.
It seemed he had perhaps turned a corner last year while on loan in his homeland at Emelec where he missed just three out of 23 games. For a player with such a horrific injury record to play in so many games was astonishing and it gave the tiniest fragment of hope that he could transform his fortunes back in South Wales.
Sadly after making just four substitute appearances this season he was back on the treatment table. The old, injury-prone Montero had never really left.
Bony too has seen his game-time seriously limited by injuries and loss of form since leaving Swansea in a big-money move in 2015.
He was a bit-part player in the following season, relying largely on cameo appearances. In 2016-17 he went on loan to Stoke in a bid to rejuvenate his career but it had the opposite effect.
He made just 11 appearances for the Potters and played fewer than 1,000 minutes for club and country that season.
Last year he returned to his happy place, the Liberty Stadium, where he had been one of the Premier League’s deadliest strikers just a few years earlier. Unfortunately every time he seemed to be nearing his best he was held back by injuries, culminating in the desperately unfortunate incident at Leicester.
Both players are still in their 20s but what
should h a v e been the golden years of their careers have been ruined by injuries.
They may be a fact of life and an occupational hazard for footballers but that doesn’t make injuries any less frustrating. When players suffer the run of injuries that these two have, it’s very difficult to feel optimistic about their futures. As brilliant as they may be, their afflictions will in all likelihood keep holding them back. Even if, by some miracle, they can remain fit and find consistent form, there is another reason not to get too carried away. Both of these players, particularly Bony, are thought to be earning high wages. Relegation from the Premier League triggered flash sales and most other high earners were sold to stabilise the club’s finances.
In September one of the club’s owners, Steve Kaplan, told the Post there was still “hard medicine” to be taken, indicating further moves were needed in their eyes to keep balancing the books.
Surely if the chance presents itself to get the likes of Montero or Bony off the wage list, it won’t be turned down.
Some fans have allowed themselves to get excited about the prospect of Montero embarrassing full-backs for the rest of the season or Bony finding his scoring touch again, but at the risk of sounding like a killjoy, it’s unlikely to happen.
I’d love nothing more than for these two to put their recent troubles behind them and take the Championship by storm but but their track records mean these two loveable talents probably can’t be relied on for any great length of time.
I desperately hope I’m wrong but the bottom line is don’t get your hopes up, there’s a big chance you’ll only end up disappointed.