Tottenham Hotspur announced their first signing of the summer on Thursday night when it was confirmed that Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama had joined from Southampton.
Spurs revealed on the club’s official website that the 24-year-old had put pen to paper on a contract until 2021, but – as is customary these days – there was no mention of a transfer fee.
However, BBC Sport claim that Spurs have paid Southampton £11m for Wanyama – that’s £1.5m less than the Saints shelled out when he moved from Celtic in 2013.
Wanyama – under normal circumstances is worth so much more than £11m. In terms of quality, he is in the same league as new Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka, yet the Gunners have just splashed out around £30m on him – so say Sky Sports.
The reason Wanyama’s price has dropped has nothing to do with him becoming worse. In two years at St Mary’s he has enhanced his reputation, although his disciplinary record remains a concern – he averages a red card every 10 Premier League games.
Wanyama was allowed to leave Southampton for such a bargain fee because he had just one year left to run on his contract there.
Southampton simply couldn’t risk letting him leave for nothing next season, which would likely have happened considering the player was not short of admirers.
Before Wanyama committed to Spurs, he was linked – via the Daily Express – with Arsenal back in January, while the Daily Star credited Chelsea with an interest in the 6′ 2″ African last year.
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