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Arsene Wenger Blocked Wilfried Bony’s Dream Arsenal Move
Manchester City once took advantage of Arsene Wenger turning away one of their transfer targets, who dreamed of playing for Arsenal. This came in a period where the Citizens were still rising in the game following their 2008 takeover, and after they’d already poached several players from the Gunners.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna had already swapped the Emirates for the Etihad by the time City then went on to win this tug-of-war in the transfer market.
The Abu Dhabi United Group, led by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, put the Manchester-based club among the richest on the planet, meaning they could beat clubs to signings when they previously wouldn’t have. That was the case for Wilfried Bony, as Man City flexed their financial muscle to beat the Gunners to his signature in 2015.
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Wilfried Bony Denied Dream Arsenal Transfer
Bony had taken the Premier League by storm after banging in 39 goals in 18 months for Swansea City, and that had him on the radar of the biggest clubs in England. The striker was subject to interest from both Arsenal and Man City in January 2015.
His heart was set on a move to north London, but that’s not how things worked out. In a recent interview with Ladbrokes (via the Metro), the ex-Ivory Coast international explained how his desired Arsenal move fell apart. He said:
“There were three clubs interested in signing me after my first season at Swansea: Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City.
“It pleased me that it was clubs like City and Arsenal who wanted to sign me because of the way they played. City’s way of playing was very similar to Swansea’s, so I knew that the intensity and everything would be fine. I was happy about that.”
Explaining that the Swans wanted to move him on for a hefty fee, Bony added that City’s offer was a late one, but the financial package was ultimately what stopped Arsenal from pulling the trigger. “City made their offer at the last minute – I wanted to join Arsenal. But at that time, the money City put on the table was something that nobody could match, especially in terms of salary.
“When Arsene Wenger heard about the salary, he said, ‘That’s too big for us! That’s too big for us!’
“I wanted to join Arsenal, so I met him again in Swansea when we were playing against them. I spoke to him in the Marriott hotel, and again Wenger said that the salary would be too much for them.”
Bony’s Man City Career and His Pep Guardiola Experience
Bony, now 37, looks back on his Man City career with just one regret. He only managed 11 goals in 46 appearances after becoming the most expensive African player ever at the time (£25 million), and eventually returned to Swansea permanently after just two years in Manchester.
He claimed: “I only regret one thing: When I returned from the AFCON, I was tired. I was tired because of the heat, because of the intensity, because of everything. I was cooked. It was difficult for me to match the level where I wanted to be, what I had to be to stand out.”
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Pep Guardiola joined the Citizens in the summer of 2016, and Bony was quite swiftly shipped out on loan to Stoke City. While that was the beginning of the end for his time at the club, the former striker has claimed he holds no grudge against his old boss: “We all knew Pep Guardiola was joining as manager several months before he arrived, but I didn’t speak to him until the first day of pre-season.
“We had good conversations. He liked me in training, which was enjoyable. He actually said to me that if I wanted to, I could stay. He wouldn’t guarantee that I was going to play often, but he said that the most important thing was that I was ready to play every game. “We talked, so there was a friend mentality despite our different way of seeing things. There was no confrontation about anything. But after we spoke, in my head I was thinking that I needed to play. That’s what I love about football: playing.”
Statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt. Correct as of 30-12-25.
