Manchester City struggling to shift Wilfried Bony back to Swansea due to £100,000-a-week wages
Pep Guardiola has no room for the Ivory Coast striker - especially with Alexis Sanchez on the horizon - but the Swans are being priced out
Wilfried Bony's return to Swansea City is being held up by his massive wage demands.
The big striker was due to go back to Wales from Manchester City in a deal worth around £13 million but his wages are more than they are willing to pay.
Supremo Huw Jenkins wanted the old favourite to return but the club cannot commit to a move and taking on that size of contract.
The stall in talks means that Fernando Llorente's potential switch to Chelsea and even young Oli McBurnie's loan move to Barnsley are on hold for the time being.
Bony rakes in £100,000-a-week at the Etiad, where he moved in January 2015 when the club was desperate for goals.
The 28-year-old has two years left on his mammoth deal so City are understandably keen to moves him on as he plummets down the pecking order.
The Ivory Coast star was shipped out to Stoke last season but he started just nine Premier League games and scored just twice.
City thought they were going to be able to cut their losses when a Chinese Super League side made a bid for Bony but that deal collapsed and he remains on their wage bill until 2019 unless a deal can be done in the next few hours.
latest manchester city news
Before he was shipped out to Stoke, Guardiola explained to Bony why he did not fit into his plans.
Bony told SunSport: “Before I left he told me he was not pushing me outside but ‘you need to play games with your profile, the way you play’.
“He said, ‘I like the way you play but I play with one striker and there are not many games where I will play two, so it will be difficult for you to play all season.
“And after the last season with injuries and not a lot of rhythm, you need to play’.
“That was the last conversation.”