Manuel Pellegrini admits he's 'disappointed' by Wilfried Bony's impact at Man City

MANUEL PELLEGRINI admits Wilfried Bony's failure to make an impact so far at Manchester City has been "disappointing".

Wilfried BonyGETTY

Manuel Pellegrini says he's been disappointed by Wilfried Bony's impact

When Pellegrini bought Bony from Swansea for £28million in the January transfer window the hope was that he would beef up City's Premier League title challenge and help them overcome Barcelona in the Champions League.

But Bony missed his first month following the move because he was on international duty with the with Ivory Coast at the African Nations Cup. And since returning he has been hampered by knee and ankle injuries which have restricted him to only two starts, yielding one goal.

Bony is fit again for today's clash with Aston Villa and Pellegrini wants him to make up for lost time in the final five games of the season to help City nail down runners-up spot.

"Of course it's disappointing," said Pellegrini. "We bought him because we had the injuries to the strikers. We have five more games, 15 points. I'm sure Bony will be involved in them."

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood, meanwhile, will warn his players to heed the example of Wigan as his side chase FA Cup glory as well as Premier League survival.

Wilfried Bony Player Profile

"Wigan is a good example," he said. "I certainly won't be enjoying the trip to Wembley if we're not a Premier League club.

"We obviously want to win the FA Cup and nothing is going to get in the way of that but at the same time we definitely need to be in the league.

"We use everything we can to warn them against complacency, but their motivation should be the fact that if they want to play in an FA Cup final they have got to prove their worth to me in the Premier League games remaining.

"If they don't they won't be selected. There'll be no one saving themselves for the FA Cup final."

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