Wanyama’s Sh1.7 billion move

Kenyan midfielder and Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama is set to become the first ever East African player to play in the prestigious Barclays Premier League.

This is after the combative Celtic midfielder on Wednesday agreed to join Southampton on a four-year deal worth a staggering Sh1.7 billion (£12.5million), a Scottish transfer record.

It shatters the previous transfer record of £11m (about Sh1.3 billion) that Spartak Moscow paid Celtic for Aiden McGeady in 2010.

Wanyama bid farewell to his Celtic teammates and left the club’s pre-season camp in Germany, from where he was expected to fly to England later in the evening to seal the deal.

“I wish to thank everyone who has worked hard to make this deal happen. Let’s see what develops in the next day or two,” the combative midfielder told the Daily Nation on phone from Germany.

All that remains to finalise the move, according to the players’ agent, is the midfielder undergoing and passing a rigorous medical at the club’s St Mary’s training ground.

The English club is then expected to offer the financial guarantees of the deal to the player and his representatives.

Wanyama will then put pen to paper on a deal worth around Sh750 million in salary, excluding match winning and training bonuses plus other benefits.

Wanyama’s local manager, Chris Osale, also confirmed the deal, while revealing that the player had rejected an even better offer from EPL newcomers Cardiff City.

“If it (the deal) is the equivalent of traveling from Nakuru to Nairobi, then we are at Westlands,” Olale said.

If the deal is completed, it will spell the end of the most protracted football transfers in the history of East African football that lasted almost two years.

In that period, the player had been linked to almost all the top clubs in England and Italy.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was perhaps the most notable tactician interested and even flew out to Glascow to watch the player in action in January. 

Ferguson however retired in May after 20-plus years at the club. Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Benfica (Portugal), Valencia (Spain) Inter and AC Milan (Italy) also made inquiries but never firmed up their interest.

Everton in particular were said to have assured the players’ representatives that they would sign the player as replacement for the departing Maroune Fellaini but Arsenal, again, stalled on the deal for the Belgian.

Victor Wanyama was born 22 years ago in Nairobi to a former Kenyan football international and coach Noah Wanyama and Mildred Wanyama who also represented Kenyan national netball team.

His elder brother, Macdonald Mariga, was the first, and only Kenyan thus far, to have competed and won the biggest prize in Europe; the Uefa Champions League with Italian giants Inter Milan in 2010.

Wanyama, who went to Kamukunji High School, had brief spells at AFC Leopards and City Stars (then known as World Hope) in the Kenyan Premier League before switching base to Belgium’s Beerschort.

But it is at Celtic, where he moved in from Belgium two seasons back at a reported deal worth Sh60 million that he blossomed, winning two Scottish Premier League titles and the Scottish Cup in that time.

His famous headed goal, past a stranded Gerard Pique, against Barcelona in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League last term helped his team overcoming the European giants in a historic moment.

“I am happy that my son could be joining an English club. He really wants to make Southampton a household club, the team has a plan to participate in the Uefa Champions League within the next two seasons and Victor is going to be part of that,” Victor’s mother, Mildred Wanyama, said.

“This is a historic deal, and a major achievement to have happened during our reign at the federation. Victor has always been a dedicated member of the team and that is why we appointed him team captain, am certain this move is a first for many Kenyan players and the beginning of a historic positive era for Kenyan football” Football Kenya Federation Chairman Sam Nyamweya added.

Harambee Stars coach Adel Amrouche said: “I have no doubt about the capabilities of Victor, he will succeed in England, he is the most professional player I have worked with.”

So the Kenya dream of seeing their very own in the English Premier League is hours away.

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Southampton Football Club nicknamed The Saints, is based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire.

They gained promotion in to the English Premier League in the 2011-2012 season and finished 14th last season.

The Saints, a nickname they have had since 1885, play at the St Mary’s Stadium with a capacity of 32,690.

Their nickname is due to its history as a church football team, founded as St Mary’s Church of England Young Men’s Association (or St Mary’s Y.M.A) and has since played in red and white.

Their biggest rivals are Portsmouth who are their next door neighbours in the South Coast.

Southampton won the FC Cup in 1976 and have finished runner up in the league in the 1983-84 season.

They were relegated from the Premier League in 2005 ending 27 successive seasons of top division football for the club.

They were relegated even further in the League One in 2009 but rose back to the Premier League in 2011. The club is owned by Katharina Liebherr