Manchester City's Ivorian striker Wilfried Bony (L) celebrates scoring their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on October 17, 2015. AFP PHOTO / LINDSEY PARNABY RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications (Photo credit should read LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images)
Everton set to make big swap
With John Stones having been linked to many big clubs over the past few months, it seems that his transfer saga is finally coming to an end.
Everton has been at the center of many transfer rumors this summer, and this one could see their promising young center back heading out the door.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman is looking to swap John Stones for the Manchester City striker Wilfred Bony, with a deal looking more likely as the season approaches.
Bony, who has scored just six goals in his 36 appearances for City, is not a part of new manager Pep Guardiola’s plans. In this case, leaving the blue side of Manchester would be a great move for the big Ivorian, hopefully reviving his career to what it was back when he was a part of the Swansea team.
For Stones, he has been linked with a move away from Everton for quite a while, and finally came out to say that he wanted to leave the club. This was a big blow for the Everton team and fans alike, as Stones was a promising defender with tons of potential, being mentored by the likes of Jagielka and Baines. He still made the youngster mistakes, but those were almost expected at just the age of 21 last year. He was often brilliant as a defender for the Blues, with his lanky 6 foot 2 inch frame coming in handy to head the ball out of danger and body defenders.
If this swap does in fact go through, it would be interesting to see how it will affect the Lukaku transfer saga, as that seems to be getting more intense with the season less than a week away. Both Lukaku and Bony are quite similar in their stature, both being big hold up play strikers with great aerial ability. Lukaku, however, often makes runs in behind the defense to get one on one with the keeper, while Bony often stays more central, looking for service from the outside wingers to nod or tap in his goals.
Overall, this swap would be a huge deal for both clubs involved. Manchester City would be getting a young defender with talent and potential, while Everton would be getting a proven goal scorer who just needs a change of venue. It is tough to say whether Bony coming to Everton would speed up the process of Lukaku being transferred out of the club, but it certainly would not help the situation. In any case, both players are staying ‘Blue’, and both would be great additions to their new squads.
