Before the ink on Wilfried Bony’s new 100,000 pound per week contract was dry, African football enthusiasts proclaimed it as a victory for the continent. In the last few years, the relative lack of African players plying their trade at top clubs in European leagues posed a question for many; were our stars not good enough?

Yaya Toure’s continued dominance of the prestigious Glo/Caf Awards lent even further credence to fears that the continent was suffering from a dearth of quality players good enough to make it at the top brass of football. However, the quiet and understated emergence of Wilfried Bony has been put a smile on many Africa faces. With his good form at Swansea eventually rewarded with an African record 28 million pound move to Manchester City, Africa finally had another star that had made it to the top.

The next step for Bony having earned his move though, is to justify Manchester City’s decision to make him Africa’s most expensive player. Seeing as he is away on international duty with Ivory Coast and will be unavailable for Manchester City until February- barring an embarrassing group stage exit for Ivory Coast, there is plenty time to analyze Bony’s move to highlight why exactly the champions of the self-acclaimed best league in the world chose the man born in Bingerville, Ivory Coast as the one to help get retain their crown.

Value for money?

While Bony’s price tag of 28 million pounds could be said to be a pittance at the high end of the modern day transfer market, it represents a coup for selling club, Swansea City. Registering a profit margin of about 130 percent on their original investment, the bean counters at the Welsh club will be pleased with the business they have done. The bigger question though is whether Bony’s true value is closer to or farther from the expended 28 million pounds.

According to a new study by the CIES Football Observatory, a ‘research group’ within the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), Bony’s market value was pegged at 19.5 million pounds. However, once Swansea’s board factored in football-market’s peculiar inflated prices, Bony’s value was always going to rise but given Bony’s proven ability in the league so far, Manchester City will choose to believe that they could not have, in this market, gotten a striker with Bony’s goal ratio for a lesser fee.

One for the money, two for the goals?

The primary reason for purchasing Bony is for the Ivorian to add firepower to a floundering front-line at Manchester City. It is telling that even though he will be unavailable till next month- at the latest, Manchester City considered a move for Bony viable. No-one scored more Premier League goals in the calendar year of 2014 and the prospect of Bony complimenting the imperious Sergio Aguero is a football dream. The most probable likelihood is that Bony will repay City’s investment with goals so long the manager can find a way to fit all of his pricey assets together and at the same time make room for Ivorian forward.

The next King of Africa?

For the last four years, Yaya Toure has won the coveted prize of being best footballer according to the Glo/Caf awards fairly easily but it could be that his next major challenger will be his teammate at both international and club level. Ivory Coast are favourites for the 2015 African Cup of Nations currently underway in Equatorial Guinea and Bony is primed to play a big role for the Elephants. If Bony emerges as a pivotal player for club and country as Yaya Toure has over the years then he could well be the one who takes the crown off his countryman and club mate. Also, from a branding perspective, Manchester City, continually examining methods of widening its fan-base in Africa will b eager to harness the potential of the Wilfried Bony brand via merchandizing and fan gear. While much of the success of launching a strong Wilfried Bony brand will depend on his exploits on the pitch, the chances of success already seem promising.

Now Africa’s most expensive footballer, Wilfried Bony appears destined to be crowned the continent’s best as well, in the near future. To attain the status though, he will have to deliver consistently for club and country and the good news for the folks who signed the 28 million pound cheque to sign him is that they could have a diamond that was in the rough but is just about ready to start glistening.