Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony short listed for Premier League April Player of the Month award Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony has been nominated for the Barclay's Premier League Player of the Month award for April. The 25-year-old Ivorian netted twice against Aston Villa last weekend while his late penalty secured a much needed win over Newcastle United at St James' Park earlier in April. Bony is joined on the short-list by Liverpool's Raheem Sterling, Jason Puncheon of Crystal Palace and young Sunderland front man Connor Wickham. All four players have had impressive months, with Bony's goals guiding Swansea to Premier League safety in recent weeks. The powerful striker has really found form in the last fortnight or so, proving a key man up front for Garry Monk's men. Elsewhere, Sterling has been instrumental in firing Liverpool's title challenge while Puncheon's goals have guided Palace to mid table safety. Two goals from Wickham helped Sunderland to beat Cardiff City 4-0 last Sunday. “You can’t help but look for him when he’s in front of the box and you know you can give him that ball because he’ll do something with it, whether for others or to finish himself,” said Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman on Bony's influence. “He’s exactly what we need in a passing side with his strength and the way he holds up the ball so we can play off him. He doesn’t just score, he assists as well and is involved in a big way in our play. “And he’s unplayable at the moment. He’s been scoring goals and a great help especially in a period where we’ve been trying to get back to some good times. He’s been a big help for us, especially when Michu has had a tough time with injury and it was him getting the goals for us last year. “Wilf has come in and had no problems adapting. It took a little time at the start but that’s natural and now he has the respect off everyone now, not just in our dressing room.” While Swansea striker Bony is on the Player of the Month short-list, Tony Pulis, Gus Poyet, Jose Mourinho and Tim Sherwood are the four names up for the Manager of the Month award.
I wonder if Huw is still complaining about what we had to pay for Bony , the best transfer in our history imo. Played great for at least 1 season and if he doesnt stay we will have to bring a wheel barrow to move the profit he will bring us
I want him to stay also matt , for years.............but , nice consolation to know everyone wants him and will pay through the nose to get him , plan a is great but plan b is pretty good if need be . Dont know how someone so massive can be so nimble and catlike . And to top it all off hes a good guy , no ego.... the perfect footballer imo
Unfortunately the board probably think they missed a trick not selling Michu last summer for big bucks and hence may not want to make the same mistake with Bony.
Dunno, we're in a stable club and will only sell if it suits us! Also as much as I understand your Michu statement again there was no need for us to sell and I find it unfair to criticize his performance this season, as he has been injured for literally most of it! Hopefully he will stay with us and bounce back next season!
Credit to the club for stumping up and signing him and credit to laudrup for taking the nessercery flak to get him on a fitness program to perform at the required level. Since he got to the required fitness level the guy has been unplayable . If he had played while not fit his confidence might have been shot by Xmas, we have seen many top Dutch players come with big fees and not prosper in the prem league I'm sure all were concerned about this but in. Hindsight you have to say it was a good call made by all concerned. Bony has gone from a player to a leader on the field. A monster of a player,most saw it from the start but sometimes you need a step back moving to a new club and country.
Agree with that Norway. Libertarian said here the other day that oldsparkey fella said Bony was a donkey. Dunno if that's true and apologies if it's not but that's just mad. I think he'll put in an appearance now I've mentioned him, I swear he's got software that alerts him No offence intended don't shoot the messenger. But am I the only one thinking that Jenkins still hasn't got his head around the the money that this Club needs to fork out sometimes for key players in key positions? We've heard on this forum that he was "furious" at the money spent on Bony (dunno if that's true) yet this is the guy who's repaid us ten times over. I remember Wenger being criticised last season because some were saying that it was almost as if he was on a mission to show how clever he was by building a winning squad with a tight budget. He then blew that away with Ozil. I like Jenkins but he does seem to revel in the media adulation he gets at times and often seems happier to have money in the bank than stars on the pitch. If he truly was 'furious' at the Bony deal let's hope he's had a rethink because to move forward we need to replicate that next season.
What would you have said if he turned out to be a dud would you still be slagging off Huw then for over spending...
Its a hell of a turnaround from some fans on here that i am the one who is defending Huw and his wage policy and his running of the club...
Dragonborn- it's my understanding that bony was signed by the board and laudrup giving the nod, by all accounts he wasn't a first choice pick and due to dithering we ended up paying a few million over the odds,the club wanted a marquee signing to make a statement of intent , I belevie laudrups choices were cheaper but we didn't get them. It bares out that it took time to get him fit and into our system of play and when Jenkins said he had sleepless nights on the money spent it's understandable but not the full story,pleading poverty is club policy and it's no surprise that hue put negative spin on the amount spent,at the end of the day we don't won't to be seen as a club that splashes the cash ,it's bad for business ! Transfer fees are not the biggest problem it's the package that scares the life out of the board,and rightly so IMO ,nobody knows what bony got as a signing on fee but his wage is apparently within our structure,for that to happen I'm guessing that his signing on fee was very big! We paid over what we originally wanted to pay I'm guessing,we out bid west ham and Newcastle to get him,Norwich as well I believe . Bony has shown himself to be a bargain but there was no certainty in it. I understand why laudrup didn't play him and that must have been frustrating for the fans and the board but we all saw he wasn't ready in his early games, credit must go to the management at the time for have the balls to leave him out and get him firing properly on all cylinders. Laudrup mentioned many times about giving him time to adjust and get use to premier league football, we all thought that was wrong at the time but it has proven to be a master stroke ! What we are seeing now in bony is the hard nosed early season decisions paying off massively ,I doubt any credit will go to laudrup but it's telling that bony himself refused to slag the manager over it and admitted he wasn't fit enough at the start of his time here. Confidence is a massive thing and if bony had been mis firing for the early part of the season I don't think the confidence would be there in the crucial second half of the season, hindsight is a wonderful thing but using michu in the early games to give bony the nessercerry time to adapt was probably what saved our season,it will go down as ballsy management when we reflect on this season ,maybe michu was a ticking time bomb and certain people knew this? It would explain why laudrup was more confident than anyone else when it came to our chances of staying up.
If Bony does not win the fans player of the season then i will run naked through the middle of Swansea with a rolled up evening post stuck up my arse and on fire.....not a pretty sight believe me..
Good to see that Bony's playing with such strength & belief. He's a colossus of late, the way he holds & shields a ball off is truly brutal. Hope we manage to keep him, he's certainly ticking all the right boxes for us at the mo!! There is a World Cup on the the horizon of course, but he's certainly helping to give us the end of season we so badly needed. Wouldn't it be amazing if he could get to 30 goals too!! Wee hat-trick tomorrow would be a good start old Wilfried. Good on Huw and the board for jumping in the deep-end, so to speak, when they parted with all that cash!! What a brilliant investment it's turned out to be. Secondly, good on Wilfried for proving them right & thirdly, good on Garry Monk for steering us to safety, with 2 games spare. Let's hope the players continue to perform to the last & give Southampton a long deserved beating from us. Up the board & the Mighty Swans....
Well the players performing in the next 2 games will be an indicator of what respect level they have for the manager . Most players look after themselves so its not rocket science to predict they will fight to ensure prem status as it means they dont take a 50% pay cut ! Now that we are safe it will be interesting to see the commitment of the playing quad and how much they will play for monk, im just glad we are safe ,its mad to think we are going for a 4th consecutive season in the prem league ! bonkers !
Why Swans' fans' just can't give credit to the players & the club, is beyond me. The players' seem to be enjoying their football of late & that was with safety not guaranteed. So it looks like they weren't only just playing for themselves, but also for the fans' & Swansea City too!!
