Club record signing arrives in South Wales
Anyone else loving that still? Chico may have found himself a partner-in-crime...
On the official site they've stated that the training session was put on especially for Bony and Chico Flores, who's returned from a thigh injury sooner than anticipated. They should both now be in contention for some action at Reading, which will no doubt aid their integration into the squad ahead of next week's Europa League qualifier with either Malmo or Hibs (for info on our prospective opponents click here).
I won't be the only one who can't wait to see Bony in action competitively, and hopefully he'll get off the mark in the Europa League prior to the PL starting; strikers thrive on confidence and a goal or two in his first outing would help him pick up where he left off at Vitesse, scoring 31 goals in 30 games. He's featured in the Europa League previously, too, and rather prolifically at that. Before moving to Vitesse he played for Sparta Prague and finished the competition's top scorer with 9 goals - it's likely that was largely what drew the attention of his more recent employers, and you'd expect that, with what you'd have to hope is a better squad around him than he'd have had in the Czech Republic, he'll go on to do bigger and better things.
Ki hoping to grab some goals this time around
Now, Ki has been criticised by quite a large section of the Swansea faithful both during last season and over the summer, and I for one can't fathom why. I put together a selection of comparisons which showed that he stood up (and beyond) Leon and JDG in terms of effectiveness, and when you consider he ended the season as the Premier League's most accurate passer (completing 93% of his passes) it further reinforces how well he carried out his role in the team. He'd clearly been asked to play as "another Leon" for the majority of the season, and rarely (if ever) enjoyed the freedom afforded to Jonathan De Guzman, so to criticise for a lack of goals is mightily harsh.
When you ask a normally attacking player to play defensively, you're adding a moment's indecision in advanced positions; you saw it time and time again with Ki last year where the obvious option was to shoot, but he'd choose to pass instead - possibly wary that to fulfill his role to perfection then more often than not a pass will be the better option.
When you ask a normally attacking player to play defensively, you're adding a moment's indecision in advanced positions; you saw it time and time again with Ki last year where the obvious option was to shoot, but he'd choose to pass instead - possibly wary that to fulfill his role to perfection then more often than not a pass will be the better option.
Another reason why it's daft to lay into him for a lack of goals is the guy has clearly got a cannon of a shot with both feet. I refer you to the video below:
Point proven? I feel so. With the arrival of Jose Canas we could see Ki Sung-Yueng given a new lease of life, and he's come out and said he's looking to get amongst the goals this year:
“I need to score this season – that is my target – because at Celtic I did score some goals. It would be great to get that first goal. I haven’t set myself a total, just when I have a chance I want to do my best, but it’s not easy to score when I have to play so deep.”
Boy did he score some whilst at Celtic! It could be easy to read too much into the end of that quote, but I'd say it indicates he wants to be playing further forward. Recently Ki got himself into hot water with the South Korean powers-that-be when it emerged he'd criticised the coach of the national team on a "secret" Facebook profile. I do love a player who isn't afraid to speak his mind, but I do worry though that given how Kyle Bartley was seemingly cast adrift that anyone who speaks out is in danger of suffering the same treatment.
Watch what you're saying, Ki!