In many ways, in both on pitch and off pitch terms, there’s plenty to be positive about at Manchester City.
2014 saw them win the Capital One Cup and the Premier League, which subsequently means they’ve now won every available domestic competition over the last four years.
Economically, despite failing to abide by Financial Fair Play rules, there’s been marked improvements too. Their revenue soared past the £300m barrier, rising 28% from £271m to £347m, while losses fell again for the third consecutive year. Broadcast revenue was up 51%, match day revenue 20% and commercial revenue 16%. In financial terms alone, the club look like they’re set to just about break even – but only just. Their ‘master plan’, as set out by chairman, is on track with revenues steadily rising and expenses falling.
Despite the positives though, the hard facts remain. The club reported a loss of £23m for this year, which is still short of qualifying for the terms of FFP. The ramifications of failing that have seen them fined £49m and their squad reduced from 25 to 21 players in Europe, of which £30m was suspended. This now means that they’re not allowed to increase their wage budget over the next two years.
While on a financial front things are healthy, they’re still in a precarious position – which makes the £30m acquisition of Wilfried Bony more and more contentious when you place in context of how they might alternatively allocate resources.
Granted, Bony has had an excellent year- he scored more goals in the league than anybody else in 2014 – although that statistic is misleading in light of Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa’s summer arrivals, the departure of Luis Suarez, and the injuries that Sergio Aguero and Daniel Sturridge succumbed to.
Alvaro Negrado is currently on loan at Valencia, which leaves Steven Jovetic and Edin Dzeko, who both earned lucrative deals at the Etihad because of how good they performed abroad. Jovetic offered perhaps less in terms of goals but was quite a force in Serie A, while Dzeko was one of the most highly rated strikers in Europe when he penned a January move to England – people forget the earnest interest that Bayern Munich showed at the time.
Both have hardly been as consistent as City would have liked, and there’s good reason for that. If Aguero is fit, he’ll start, because he’s City’s best striker. If Jovetic or Dzeko are fortunate enough to start alongside him, they’ll play a support role – Aguero will play off the shoulder and spearhead the attacks.
Essentially, as is common when high profile players become more peripheral figures at new clubs, their form will suffer away from the limelight where a team is built in a different and less focused way. The point remains; if Jovetic or Dzeko started every week without fail for Swansea and they displayed the form that won them their contracts at City, they would undeniably be talked about in the same way as Bony.
That, in turn, suggests two things of Bony’s arrival. First, that he’ll either slip onto the bench and lose the momentum that he’s generated so well, or second, he’ll play that elusive support role. If partnered with Aguero, there’s no reason to believe that Bony will impress any more than City’s current crop of firepower – no one seems to be at their best when acting as the Argentine’s sidekick.
Arguably, City are actually at their best when they only play one up front and centralise David Silva as a no.10. Those methods have generally gifted them more favourable results (especially in Europe).
But it’s not like Bony offers a tactical alternative either – Dzeko is more than capable of providing a physical and aerial presence up front.
While Bony is in hot form and an attractive option for adding Premier League know-how and instant results (well, not until February when he returns from the African Cup of Nations), he essentially offers no upgrade on any of City’s strikers.
And in the midst of those financial imbalances and the warnings posed by further sanctions through Financial fair play, £28m is a huge sum of money to pay for what appears to be an expensive and needless luxury.
Judge him as a Swansea player for a reasonable fee and it’s a deal that makes sense. Placed in the context that he’ll be likely be on periphery, offering no change in style, for a huge financial fee, and it’s difficult to see the point of his arrival.
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