Wanyama Speaks About Leaving Southampton Saturday, 18th Jun 2016 08:35 The deal has yet to be done, but already Victor Wanyama is talking about his move away from St Mary's to Tottenham Hotspur.
The press are widely reporting that Leicester City have lost the chase to sign Victor Wanyama and that surprise surprise it is Tottenham Hotspur's shirt he will pull on next season.
Although nothing is official and technically Saints are in contract talks, I think it's fair to assume that the fact that the deal has been of the table for six months and is still unsigned means that Wanyama had no intention of ever signing it.
Speaking to soka25east in Kenya, Wanyama said.
“It’s always a tough moment leaving a club that you are so much used to their tradition and fans but again it’s always the dream of any footballer to play at the very top level like Champions league ”
“I will definitely miss the awesome Southampton fans who always showed me love and I know they will fully understand my decision "
Wanyama is apparently going to have a medical with Spurs on Monday and then his signing will be announced in the middle of next week.
The fee looks like being little more than the amount paid for him when he signed from Celtic in the summer of 2013, however Saints have got value for that money and Saints fans have to realise that the modern game is different than it was even five years ago, clubs have to wheel and deal with their squad players and once a player reaches the final year of his contract then his value will drop.
Yes Saints could probably have got £20 million last summer, however in the grand scheme of things I would suggest that it has been better for Saints to keep Wanyama for last season and perhaps lose £7 Million pounds in the process, that is perhaps proved by the fact that we finished sixth and qualified for the Europa League.
From Wanyama's perspective, even Spurs supporters are wondering whether this is a good move for their team, they are asking how he will fit into the Spurs way of playing.
Last season Spurs relied on getting the ball quickly and accurately up to Harry Kane, this is not Wanyama's type of game, he is a ball winner and Spurs have already got one of those in Dier.
Spurs fans question whether you could have both Dier and Wanyama in the same team and if you did that it would mean the flow of play would be slowed down.
They see Wanyama as being back up to Dier rather than playing alongside except in a few situations hwere they need to shut up shop.
The worry for them is that Mauricio Pochettino will change their style of play to accommodate Wanyama and this could be detrimental to the team overall.
It is sad for Saints fans to see Wanyama go, but I think like Morgan Schneiderlin a year ago they have become resigned to it happening over the season, it cannot be denied he has been good for the club, but last season his contribution has been not as big as it could have been, he has been vital in some games and ultimately that helped us finish sixth, but he spent too many times suspended or off the pitch having been send off, add to that a few indifferent games and you have to say that if he had applied himself better then perhaps he would have been able to have Champions League football with Southampton.
Photo: Action Images
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BUCK added 08:48 - Jun 18
Good luck to him. I bet he's a super sub. | | |
Lazz added 08:55 - Jun 18
​Tottenham appear to have won the race to sign defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama from Southampton, successfully seeing off competition from the title winners Leicester - according to the ​Mirror. The north London club are said to have paid £11m for the Kenyan midfield star after he failed to sign the new contract Saints had offered him. But we bought him £12m so we sell at a loss. I hope this is wrong. | | |
bstokesaint added 09:10 - Jun 18
Good luck to him I say. He's been a good player for us, although this past season his temperament on the pitch did let him down a bit. I do hope that this means that Harry Reed will get his chance. | | |
Big_T added 10:24 - Jun 18
Let us hope that this saga is finally over with, we all knew he was going, we already have replacements in the squad. For all his good points he's not the best passer or the best at moving around the park, yes he can win the ball but we do have others who can do that and more. Would have liked him to go somewhere else but I don't think spurs fans will be that impressed. | | |
kenis added 10:25 - Jun 18
Whilst in no way a surprise it's still a big disappointment, anyone that says Oriel is a better player is deluded and we will be significantly weaker without VW. A fee of less than £15m is a steal for any club and we'd pay that easily for a player of the same qualities (year remaining or not) but without the premiership experience VW has. Risk fee bargain for Spurs and I think he'll quickly be will be replacing/starting ahead of Dier, not his acting as his understudy. | | |
corkcitysaint added 10:29 - Jun 18
No surprise here. Only disappointment would be the low transfer fee. To replace him, I imagine we'll have to cough up a lot more. | | |
highfield49 added 10:40 - Jun 18
Sad fact is that unless another club enters a "bidding war" for Victor then he goes to whoever is willing to cough up a fee. The alternative is to run down his contract and let him walk away for nothing. We move on. | | |
halftimeorange added 10:47 - Jun 18
It's probably best not to read anything in the media until the day the season starts and then be pleasantly surprised that we have got a decent manager in place and a full and competent squad. Current speculation has it that we will be managerless and only have five or six players with EPL experience. Shame I can't take my own advice......... | | |
cheltenhamsaint added 11:19 - Jun 18
I tend to take a very pragmatic view regarding players/managers signing and then 2/3 years leaving. Wanyama has played a significant part in taking us from 14th in the PL when he signed to 6th and the Europa Group stage should he shortly leave. The cost to Saints will be roughly £2m fee (inc the add on clause Celtic) plus his wages for the 3 seasons. If offered that at the outset I would be surprised if any fan declined that deal Similarly with Koeman - If you were offered his services for two years, he would improve our PL standing by 2 places, set two record points tallies, get us into the group stage of Europa for next season, oversee a vast improvement in squad depth AND Everton would pay his wages retrospectively, would anyone say no thanks. I'm disappointed that they both will have left but we are stronger club for having had them on board these last few seasons | | |
SanMarco added 11:51 - Jun 18
One thing occurs to me - if it was worth keeping him last season and losing the 9m on the fee wouldn't the same argument apply for the coming season? Alright it would be 11m this season but what is the essential difference between he two situations? Player plays for a season with us and is worth 10m less at the end of it. Identical surely? | | |
1970 added 13:06 - Jun 18
"Spurs fans asking questions" lets get this deal done before they ask anymore, Victor has been a liability this season with his tantrums about his move to spuds not coming off, after all that tapping up ruined our Europa league campaign and the amount of games missed with suspension add that to the games we lost for his clumsy style in getting sent off, so for me as good as he his and as good as he thinks he is its time to warm the spuds bench, good luck to your champions league aspirations Vic it wont happen with spuds again coyr | | |
SaintPaulVW added 14:03 - Jun 18
Stuff him. Time to move on, glad it's out the way early. | | |
DPeps added 14:46 - Jun 18
This move is the worst kept secret since Mourinho to Utd, so hopefully we've had time to line up a decent replacement. Romeu is a good squad player, but I don't think I want him starting every week. Same with Reed. I wish VW well and good luck getting into that midfield! | | |
IWOZTHERE added 15:47 - Jun 18
He's never wanted to be here and has 'picked his games'.Kenis may love him but apart from raw strength, I think Romeu is very much on a par and better going forward. I think we should put the cash towards the purchase of a quality 'box to box' midfielder as I'm not convinced by Clasie. Romeu as DM is fine. I'm not a Board 'lover' as such but I think it makes sense to let him go. | | |
pintsizedsaint added 20:58 - Jun 18
Kenya, I must be deluded then because I think Romeu has more potential. They are different players though - VWs strength is his strength and hard tackles. Romeu (and Clasie) has the ability to tackle but his strength lies in passing and making quick transitions from defence to attack. I think VW has done well but by no means irreplaceable. Yet MoPo sees something in him. Rumour is that Dier is going to convert to CB at some point, so VW will adopt his normal position. If that doesn't happen, VW will have to get used to watching matches from the bench | | |
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