Bony to the Emirates?

It is inevitable that there will be hundreds upon hundreds of transfer rumours doing the rounds over the summer months. Some of these rumours will turn out to be true but the vast majority will likely amount to little more than paper talk. As usual Arsenal are likely to be one of the most talked about clubs, and one of the players being linked with a move to the Emirates last week was Swansea striker Wilfried Bony after The Mirror reported the Gunner’s apparent interest. This could well  be just another of those rumours but some Arsenal fans may be hoping there is more to it than that

There were a few doubts over the price tag of Bony when Swansea bought him to the Premier League last summer. Bony had an impressive record at former club Vitesse but prolific strikers in the Eredevisie haven’t always found the net so easy to come by when they move to England. For every Ruud Van Nistelrooy there’s an Alfonso Alvez. £12 million may not seem much compared to some of the astronomical transfer fees paid for players these days but for a club with a more modest spending budget like Swansea, it was a huge outlay.

Bony has proved to be worth every penny though. With star striker Michu missing most of the season through injury, the onus was on Bony’s shoulders to take over the goal scoring burden vacated by the Spaniard. The Ivorian silenced any doubters emphatically by registering 25 goals in all competitions and his form is one of the main reasons why the Swans are still a top flight club and not a Championship one. That amount of goals in a struggling team is a return that will turn the heads of a few Premier League clubs that are in need of a striker. Quick, strong and good in the air, Bony has shown he is a natural goalscorer and at the age of 25 his best years should still be ahead of him.

Arsenal fans were crying out for a goalscorer to assist their title push in the January transfer window but Arsene Wenger decided he already had enough up top with Olivier Giroud and Yaya Sanogo. Giroud impressed in the first half of the season but looked tired as the season wore on and in was inevitable that he would suffer a drop of form at some stage. Sanogo works hard and may prove to be a good player in the future but there are doubts as to whether he has the required quality to play at a club of Arsenal’s standing.

With Wenger’s preference for playing a lone striker, Bony looks to be a good fit at the Emirates. It is not certain he would want to leave Wales of course and looks to be happy enough with life at the Liberty Stadium.  However if Swansea receive a big enough offer for the front man they may be willing to listen to offers, and the opportunity to play Champions League football would surely appeal to Bony. Mesut Ozil aside, Arsenal are notorious for not spending huge amounts on transfer fees so a bid for Bony would probably be more in their price range than for one of the more established strikers on the continent.

If the Gunners are to make a move for the Ivory Coast international, it might be a good idea for them to try and get their business done before the World Cup. If Bony reproduces his top form in Brazil, then Wenger may well find he has a few rivals for the strikers signature.