Manchester City confirm Wilfried Bony capture

The Ivory Coast federation had pre-empted City's announcement by revealing the deal on its Twitter feed on Wednesday morning, with Bony part of the country’s squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations.

Bony, a club-record £12m purchase from Vitesse Arnhem in 2013, was the Premier League's top scorer in the calendar year of 2014 with 20 goals.

City made an initial approach last week but the two clubs could not agree on a fee with Swansea said to be holding out for £30m. But that impasse has now been resolved.

Swansea shot down the apparently premature announcement from the Ivorian federation.

But once Bony was pictured with a City shirt bearing his name, it became apparent that the champions had got their man.

After signing a four-and-a-half year deal, Bony said: "It’s a great feeling for me, it’s a big honour to be here and it’s a great challenge. As a player it’s always good to be part of one of the biggest clubs in the world and it’s a good opportunity for me to be in that situation now – I’m really proud.

"I felt excited to wait for this moment and now it’s come, it’s fantastic. I think it’s a great decision for me - Manchester City is in the Champions League.

"You remember at the end of last season I said that if I want to move it will be to a team in the competition because it’s a great tournament that I really want to play in and one that I want to win.

"It’s a motivation for me to give my maximum to be in that place. City is a big club with great players with a lot of experience; I believe we can do it.”

Bony previously had a £19m release clause in his contract but that was removed after the Ivorian signed improved terms in November.

He scored 34 goals in 70 appearances for the Swans.

"Manchester City are always a club that wants important players like Bony and Aguero, they always want to progress and be at the top of the Premier League. If you want to be at the top of the Premier League you need to sign the top players and Bony is one of them at the moment. It will be tough to win the title again as Chelsea are in a good moment. It is not finished and we need to compete well and do the business and again."

Someone at the Ivorian federation was obviously keen to get a few RTs and pre-empted the two Premier League clubs. But either way, the deal is certainly done now. Bony is a hugely talented player and more accomplished than some would suggest. He is big and strong but his link-up play is also fantastic and he has a very keen football brain. £28m seems a awful lot but there's no doubt he will be a huge asset in the Premier League. The Champions League will be a big step up though...