Wanyama set to earn Sh1 million-a-day salary

Victor Mugubi Wanyama’s impending Sh1.6 billion move to English Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur from Southampton, which is expected to be completed any time, marks yet another big score for a Kenyan footballer.

The Harambee Stars captain will most certainly enjoy an improved pay package at the North London outfit with his take-home salary set to rise from the current Sh11 million monthly — which he earned at St Mary’s — to Sh35 million gross and Sh20 million net at White Hart Lane.

Southampton will, however, have the lion’s share of the projected Sh1.6 billion — claiming up to 80 per cent, which translates to around Sh1.2 billion — with the balance going to the player’s agents and his former club Celtic.

Besides the big money involved, Wanyama will make history as the first East African to play for a Champions League club in England and the first Kenyan to do so with two clubs.

By virtue of finishing third last season in the Barclays Premier League, Spurs are guaranteed an automatic spot in the 2016/17 Uefa Champions League calendar.

Though the transfer is expensive, the hefty fee Tottenham will cough up to acquire the services of the combative Kenyan holding midfielder slightly falls short of what Southampton paid to lure him from Scottish giants Celtic on July 11, 2013.

Back then, the Saints, under current Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, who is pushing for a reunion with Wanyama at White Hart Lane, paid Celtic £12.5 million (Sh 1.8 bilion) to have the Kenyan in his squad.

Wanyama’s past transfers still remain the most expensive involving a Kenyan footballer. When he joined Celtic from the Belgian Pro Jupiter League team, Germinal Beerschot, on July 9, 2011, the Scottish side paid £900,000 (Sh103.4 million) in transfer fees.

EXPENSIVE TRANSFER

The other expensive transfer involving a Kenyan footballer was that of Wanyama’s sibling, elder brother MacDonald Mariga, who on February 1, 2010, the last day of the winter transfer window, sealed a move to Italian Serie A giants Inter-Milan from Parma in a co-ownership deal. The transfer fee was €5 million (Sh574 million) in a cash-plus-player deal.

The two moves of Wanyama from Celtic to Southampton and the expected move to Tottenham and that of his sibling Mariga dwarf  the one of former Harambee Stars ace and skipper Dennis Oliech, who in January 2005 signed a four-year contract with the French Ligue 1 side Nantes at a fee of $3.7 million (Sh281.2 million).

The transfers remain the most expensive involving Kenyan soccer stars.

However, for Wanyama, a move to Tottenham will not only see him reunite with Argentine Pochettino, the man who took him from Celtic Park, but also gives him a chance to play in the prestigious Uefa Champions League after close to four seasons out.

Known as the “Bull of Muthurwa” in local football quarters, Wanyama’s last love affair with the Champions League was on November 7, 2012, when he scored a bullet header as Celtic ran out 2-1 winners over football demi-gods Barcelona, of Spain, in a group stage match at Celtic Park.

Oliech and Mariga have also featured in the prestigious competition. Oliech had a not-so-good experience with the elite competition in 2011, when his then club AJ Auxerre were bundled out in the group stage, while Mariga went on to inscribe his name in football folklore by winning the title with Inter in May 2010 under incoming Manchester United Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho.

“I think he’s making the right move, considering he’s ambitious,” said former Harambee Stars coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee on Monday.

The flamboyant coach, who handed  Wanyama his Stars debut as a 15-year-old in an international friendly match against Nigeria in Nairobi in 2007, added: “He is also joining his former coach (Pochettino) and, in football, it’s good to work under someone who understands and believes in you.

“It’s about character, and Victor (Wanyama) has that. It’s also an eyeopener for Kenyan players, who lack many role models. In Victor they have one.”