Where is Wilfried Bony?

Wilfried Bony's addition to the Manchester City squad in January was supposed help the Blues push Chelsea for the Premier League title. But instead Bony failed to completely integrate into the squad and he provided a measly return on a large outlay of funds. Chelsea ran away with the title and City had to rally late just to finish second.

Bony cost Manchester City  upwards £35 million reportedly in January and City got very return on that investment. Now concerns are abound about the expensive striker's fitness for the new season following a report in the Daily Mail that Bony has a "mystery illness" which explains his failure to travel to Australia for the club's preseason tour.

For just the second time in the last five season, Manchester City failed to collect any silverware even though the club was alive in three competitions when Bony arrived from Swansea.

Bony struggled in his limited starts scoring against ten-man West Brom in March and then against his former club Swansea in the penultimate fixture of the season. Bony's performances were uneven but preferable to the strikers he was competing for time with.

Edin Dzeko and Steven Jovetic were both poor this past season and the Blues who are under Financial Fair Play restrictions by UEFA dropped Jovetic from the Champions League squad for the knockout stages, and now probably need to offload the Montenegrin star in order to balance the books per UEFA rules.  So if Bony is unable to start the season at full strength Manager Manuel Pellegrini might need to consider another option. One option is to play Sergio Aguero as a lone striker. Another is the possibility of playing Raheem Sterling in a secondary striker position or playing in a 4-3-3.

Having already likely lost Fabian Delph for the start of the season, losing Bony could be a serious problem for the Blues.