Manchester City have allowed their Wilfried Bony leave the Etihad on a temporary basis as the striker has completed a loan switch to Premier League outfit Stoke City on the deadline day of the summer transfer window.
The 27-year-old joined the Citizens from Swansea City in January 2015 as he was signed by Manuel Pellegrini to boost City's title chances that term. The Chilean manager has left the Etihad and has been replaced by Pep Guardiola.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has decided against keeping him and has allowed him to play under Mark Hughes at Stoke for the 2016/17 campaign.
A statement on City's official website read, " Manchester City can confirm Wilfried Bony has joined Stoke City on loan until the end of the 2016/17 season."
On completing the loan switch to Stoke. their manager Hughes has expressed his delight on landing the Ivory Coast international on a loan deal on the final day of the summer transfer window.
"Bringing Wilfried in was a no-brainer for us to be perfectly honest, because he knows the Premier League and has scored plenty of goals at this level," Hughes told Stoke's official website.
"He has power, speed and very good physical attributes which will undoubtedly help us, and his technical and finishing skills are outstanding too.
"Eighteen months ago he was being bought for a hugely significant amount of money, so we know that we are bringing in a top quality striker."
"Everybody is aware of Wilfried and what he is capable of, and it was no surprise that one of the bigger clubs came in for hion the back of his performances for Swansea - the only surprise has been that he didn't enjoy the success with Manchester City that we all thought he would."
