Can Bony deliver title for Man City?

Pellegrini gambles on Wilfried for success.

Manchester City fired the first significant shot of the January transfer window by agreeing to buy Swansea striker Wilfried Bony for around £30m.

Manuel Pellegrini sees Bony as the difference between City keeping hold of their title and losing it to Chelsea.

If that happens, it will be the first time that a player bought in the mid-season window has decided the destination of the Premier League.

The Ivory Coast internationalist is at the Africa Cup of Nations for at least the rest of this month, but on his return he would also join City’s increasingly urgent attempt to win the Champions League.

City are operating under UEFA-imposed restrictions for Financial Fair Play offences but Bony’s fee will not breach their limits as £25m is due from Valencia for Alvaro Negredo.

Nonetheless, buying a new striker in January was never in the club’s masterplan. They’ve taken the plunge because of continuing fitness doubts over Sergio Aguero and Edin Djeko, plus the increasing conviction that Stevan Jovetic is short of the required quality.

Bony was the Premier League’s top scorer in 2014, and at 26 is both a short-term and long-term investment.

City caught Chelsea despite the fact they’d not had a fit striker for a month and many expect the Bony deal to tip the scales in their favour.

Jose Mourinho has declared consistently that he’s happy with his squad and has no need for reinforcements. Of course, that was before his team were caught.

Suggestions that Chelsea might attempt to cash in on Lionel Messi’s disquiet at Barcelona are fanciful but Mourinho may be coming to the conclusion that he needs help for his overworked first choice XI.

Paul Pogba of Juventus has been a long-time target, as has Real Madrid defender Rafael Varane, but players of that level are always more likely to be summer signings.

Desperation to stay in the Premier League means that teams at the bottom are more likely to take a chance on buying in this window.

Those at the top generally keep their cheque-books closed because targets are restricted by eligibility factors and are generally over-priced.

Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea and Andy Carroll’s move to Anfield from Newcastle are traditionally quoted examples of ill-conceived January deals.

Some have been outstanding Luis Suarez for Liverpool, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra for Manchester United, for example. But they didn’t make an instant impact and had no say in the destination of trophies that season.

Of the clubs in the top nine at New Year last season, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and Southampton did not sign a single player in January.

Chelsea, however, spent £21m to buy back Nemanja Matic from Benfica and it proved money well spent.

Manchester United also did significant business, spending what was then a club record of £37.1m on Juan Mata. Louis van Gaal oversaw the spending of £155m last summer but he admits that the balance of his squad is still not right.

It’s widely accepted that Roma’s defensive midfielder Kevin Strootman will be re-united with his former national manager at some point, and Borussia Dortmund’s German defender Mats Hummel has long been his prime defensive target. Again, though, summer is more likely.

It’s been hard to assess any of Van Gaal’s signings because all have been restricted by injuries. However, he expects Angel di Maria, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo to contribute much more in the second half of the season, and his doubts about stumping up £43m for Rademal Falcao are beginning to fade.

At Liverpool Brendan Rodgers will be trying to persuade the American owners to trust him with more of their money. He spent £105m in the summer and the return has been shockingly poor. He desperately needs a striker even if Daniel Sturridge eventually gets himself fit West Brom’s Saido Berahinho fits the profile but he may have to wait.

Steven Gerrard’s substantial salary will be coming off the books in a few months and a big overhaul is expected at Anfield in the summer.

Arsene Wenger is always reluctant to do business in January but the prospect of Arsenal missing out on their accustomed fourth place may galvanise him.

The Gunners always seem to be in need of a defensive midfielder and a defender and West Ham centre-back Winston Reid at a cut-price £3m would solve at least one of those problems.