With our Ivorian powerhouse's stock flying up, and the ink on his new contract still drying, how much is Wilf worth right now? Lots, I'd say...
"He's too big to play in the Premiership", "he doesn't look natural enough", "his first touch is rubbish" and "he doesn't run the channels enough" were all things heard routinely (and sadly) in Bony's early days at the Liberty. I doubt you'll find a single dissenter now. After taking a little while to get scoring in the league Wilfried Bony thoroughly deserves all the praise that's currently being lavished on him, and he's become an absolutely integral part of the Swansea City team.
What's more, he's obviously still improving. Signing Big Wilf for £12million from Vitesse is looking now like an absolutely brilliant piece of business on the Swans' part - you only have to look at Shane Long costing the same for Southampton - and this week the main story doing the rounds is that Bony is the top scoring player in the Premier League for the calendar year to date. If that is still true come midnight on 31st of December, that will be - simply - an incredible achievement.
When you factor in the fact that he's just signed a new contract, it really does become anyone's guess just how much Bony's market value is, but with potential suitors always circling overhead let's have a rough guess, just to see what we could expect to receive if a substantial bit was to come in. Firstly, here's the list of top PL scorers in 2014, with the players' ages & most recent transfer fees in brackets.
- Wilfried Bony - 17 goals - Age 25 - £12million
- Sergio Aguero - 16 goals - Age 26 - £35million
- Edin Dzeko - 14 goals - Age 28 - £27million
- Yaya Touré - 13 goals - Age 31 - £24million
- Daniel Sturridge - 13 goals - Age 25 - £12million
- Steven Gerrard - 12 goals - Age 34 - N/A
- Luis Suárez - 12 goals - Age 27 - £75million
- Wayne Rooney - 12 goals - Age 29 - £24.6million
- Romelu Lukaku - 11 goals - Age 21 - £28million
- Emmanuel Adebayor - 11 goals - Age 30 - £5million*
- Diego Costa - 11 goals - Age 26 - £32million
Now, aside from how nice it is to see Wilf on top of that list what else do you notice? Firstly, only Lukaku is younger. Secondly, only Daniel Sturridge & Adebayor cost less (* with Adebayor's loan deal the prior season bringing his fee right down), and I'd argue that Adebayor has been a flop (despite appearing in this list), while Sturridge is - great last season aside - not as proven a goalscorer as Bony now is. Bony has scored goals wherever he's been, and in abundance. Ok, Sturridge started at the top, and I do feel he's an excellent player, but as an out and out goalscorer I'd say Bony is the better option.
This leads me to then look at players who've been bought "in their prime", as it were, and who have scored lots of goals. Aguero? £35million. Dzeko? £27million, and that was going back a while now. Diego Costa cost £32million, while Romelu Lukaku cost a remarkable £28million, the majority of which must surely be viewed as an investment on his potential as opposed to his current ability.
This all leads me to believe that, should a team come knocking, £30million for Wilfried Bony would be a completely fair price. He's going to improve for a few years yet. he hasn't got pace to lose, he's a handful for any defence in the world and he's now a proven goalscorer in the Premier League.
Oh, and he plays for Swansea City. For the Swans, £30million is still like winning the lottery and we will (and should) sell all day. Hell, I can't think of one asset the club own that couldn't be bought for £30million! Take the Liberty if you want, we'll build a stadium with decent concourse space somewhere in SA1!
No one wants to see Wilf leave, but in signing a new contract and continuing his excellent form he's now ensured that if and when he does leave, the Swans will most definitely get a fair price for him, and once again break their record for "transfer fee received".
£15million for Joey? Small change that was, mun...