Manchester United and Real Madrid interest could come to nought as Swansea await official bid that would make Bony a Manchester City player by the end of the week
Manchester City are attempting to drive through a £30 million deal for the Swansea City forward Wilfried Bony in a bid to provide the firepower to overhaul Chelsea in the race for the Premier League title.
City made an official approach to Swansea over Bony on Tuesday and held two separate conversations over the striker, who has scored nine goals this season.
Swansea are now waiting to hear whether City come back with an official bid, but fear their star player, who is due to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast, is poised to leave the Liberty Stadium.
Despite strong denials from within the Etihad Stadium last week of City’s interest in Bony, it is understood that terms were offered to the player over a week ago and that the deal now depends on the two clubs agreeing a fee.
Any move for the former Vitesse Arnhem striker would leave City having to omit one of their foreign players from the club’s Champions League squad for the knock-out stages to accommodate Bony due to restrictions placed on manager Manuel Pellegrini by Uefa following the club’s failure to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations last season.
Uefa restricted City to 21-man Champions League squad, made up of no more than sixteen overseas players, and the squad already holds its maximum number of non-English players.
As revealed by Telegraph Sport, City first made discreet inquiries over how much it would take to sign Bony last week and the Eastland club are ready to offer the 26-year-old a £100,000-a-week deal if a fee can be agreed.
On hearing of City’s interest, Bony informed Swansea that he would not want to be denied the chance to join a Champions League club.
Bony signed a new Swansea contract in November and that move was a masterstroke by chairman Huw Jenkins, who managed to take out the £19m release clause that was in the Ivory Coast international’s initial deal.
Swansea signed Bony for a club record £12m from Vitesse in July 2013 and, in total, the player has scored 34 goals in 70 appearances for the Welsh team.
Real Madrid have also shown a recent interest in Bony, while Manchester United are believed to have watched him.
Having confirmed their interest in Bony last night, City officials maintain that a deal is still some way from being agreed, with the two clubs a sizeable distance apart on the player’s valuation.
However, with each of City’s three recognised forwards – Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic – suffering lengthy injury absencs this season, the club’s Abu Dhabi hierarchy has sanctioned the move for Bony to ensure Pellegrini possesses the firepower to retain the Premier League title and overcome Chelsea at the top of the table.
Pellegrini has operated with just three strikers this season following the loan of Alvaro Negredo, which includes a £24m permanent transfer, to Valencia in August.
Despite falling foul of Uefa’s FFP strictures last season, City are confident that they will clear the financial test this season after driving up commercial revenue and cutting losses during the last financial year.
The move for Bony is a sign of the club’s conviction that they will no longer be under the Uefa microscope, but it remains a surprise, nonetheless, with City keen to lower the average age of their squad over the next two transfer windows.
City have room for one more overseas player in their Premier League squad, but any foreign signing this month would be ineligible for the Champions League unless a current overseas player is sold or dropped from the European squad before it is re-submitted ahead of the last sixteen tie against Barcelona next month.
Source: Telepgraph
