Twenty-four goals in Ivorian's first Premier League season means a good World Cup and we could well be fighting off serious big-money interest
It comes to something when Swansea fans are (jokingly) suggesting that Ron Vlaar giving Wilfried Bony a dead leg late on this past weekend would actually have been of benefit to the Swans.
Two braces in as many games, fifteen Premier League goals in twenty five starts (giving a rate of a goal every 152.6 minutes), and an overriding sense that Bony has now truly arrived mean that we could well be fighting to hold onto him this summer. He's now scored twenty-four goals in fourty-eight games in his debut season with the Swans, and what was originally deemed a steep transfer fee of £12million is now looking, rather amazingly, like a bit of a bargain.
There's already rumours of interest from Everton, and given Bony has improved as the season has gone on there's every reason to believe he isn't done scoring yet - hence the thinking that if he'd picked up a completely non-serious injury which stopped him from raising his stock that little bit further in the next two games, it could actually have helped keep him out of the eyes of big clubs whose scouting practices are sometimes painfully rudimentary.
I can't remember (or find) the exact stat, but I was recently told on the EPL Roundtable podcast that Bony has almost as many goals as anyone else in the PL in 2014, equal to Luis Suarez even in that respect. The only people that have scored more than our granite-hewn striker this season are Suarez, Sturridge, Yaya Toure, Wayne Rooney & Sergio Aguero - not bad company to be keeping and when you consider his defensive contribution (which has been lauded a few times of late) - making on average 2.1 clearances per game - he really has become an integral part of the way we're currently playing, so to lose him this summer would be devastating.
With the World Cup threatening to further propel Bony's star into the telescopic view of major European clubs, we really could face a fight on our hands to keep him - assuming he'd have any interest in staying, of course. At present, I don't see why he'd fancy a move to Everton (or a club of a similar stature) as realistically if he plays like he currently is for the majority of next season, much bigger suitors will come calling. There's (almost) always a bedding in period at new clubs, and with Bony clearly now acclimatised and enjoying life in SA1 I'd hope he fancies at least one more season leading the line for Swansea City.
I think in terms of maximising his performance it makes sense for him to stay, but given his market value is currently likely to be around the £20million mark it'll be hard for the club to turn down any kind of big-money offer. I would speculate though, that if he banged in twenty Premier League goals next season he'd actually be worth considerably more. It's quite flabbergasting to consider that Swansea City, once of Julian Alsop and Dave O'Gorman fame (no offence lads!), could be twelve months from possessing a thirty million pound striker, but that's most definitely the case. Bony still has years ahead of him, and he's given us no reason to believe his performances won't continue to improve exponentially as time goes on.
I'd be absolutely gutted if Bony leaves this summer. Gutted. I've loved him from minute one and I'm so glad he's proven critics wrong, and if he moved on this summer for anything other than Champions League football at a major, major club I think it'd be inevitable that he ends up moving again in the not too distant future. Ok, you'd pick up a helluva lot in signing on fees and probably earn bigger wages in the meantime, but I think in terms of footballing development he's surely better off enjoying a full season as our first-choice centre forward. There's obviously a lot of bias speaking there though.
That's why, this summer, I'm selfishly hoping that Bony has fun but doesn't set the World Cup alight. Well, not too allight anyway. Keep it low key Wilf, I want you here next year.