Manchester City have reached an agreement to sign Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony.
According to reports, Manchester City have agreed to sign Wilfried Bony from Swansea City for a transfer fee of A?25m rising to A?28 million. The striker will sign a four and a half year deal with the Premier League champions which will see him earning a wage around A?100,000 a week. The signing means that City now have four strikers in their squad along with Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.
Pellegrini decided to sign the fourth striker because he is concerned about the injury records of the other three, Sergio AgA?ero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.
Asked about the issue on Friday, Pellegrini said: a The injuries was part of the decision, because we had too many injuries. Ita s normal strikers are more injured than other players especially here in England where you need strong footballers and ita s physical football, Thata s why I said last year, and this year also, we need a fourth striker.a
City are in the race to defend their title as they sit second in the league, two points behind Chelsea and are in contention for the FA Cup and the Champions League. Manchester City have reached the fourth round of the FA Cup and will face Barcelona in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
In order to be in contention in all the three competitions, Pellegrini believes a fourth striker could be vital. a I think ita s important you have the squad you think you need. Last season we had four strikers, and the four strikers were useful to win the title.
a You cannot say that because you are bringing in another striker you are going to win. But in the first part of the season ita s important to analyse and I assure you that we need a fourth striker that we are bringing in. If that striker will help we suppose we are going to be a strong squad with him. Ita s very important for all players to have competition because they have their best performance when they have important competition.a
To accommodate the Ivory Coast international, Manuel Pellegrini will have to drop one of his 16 allocated overseas players from the cluba s Champions League squad.
Of which player Pellegrini might drop from the Champions League squad, he said: a We will take that decision in February, three or four days before we start the Champions League again so at that moment we will see which player will be out of the squad.a
Wilfried Bony, 26, joined Swansea from Vitesse for a club-record A?12 million in 2013 and was the Premier League’s top scorer in 2014 with 20 goals. The forward has scored nine goals in 22 appearances this season.
The two clubs hope to conclude the deal in the next 48 hours.