Wanyama Would Be The Perfect Signing For United

First of all, I am a Celtic fan writing this piece on Victor Wanyama so I will aim to be as unbiased as possible whilst giving my opinion as to why I know he would be a great signing for Manchester United (although hopefully not for a while!).

After his performance against Barcelona I’m sure there is quite a bit of hype surrounding the young Kenyan so it’s hard not to get carried away.

I would like to begin by giving information on Wanyama’s footballing background to show how far he has come in such a short space of time. At the tender age of fifteen, Victor earned his first cap for the Kenyan national squad in a friendly against Nigeria and has since made 23 appearances.

From 2008-2011, Wanyama played his football for Belgian side Beerschot AC, playing a total of 50 games. He was very highly rated even then as in the summer of 2010, a nineteen-year-old Wanyama had been closely watched by CSKA Moscow and Aston Villa, who were reportedly close to signing Victor, but Beerschot refused to sell – and in the summer of 2011,

Wanyama could not turn down the offer to sign for Celtic for a measly fee of £900,000. Now, little over a year later, clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester United are chasing his signature with United scouts reportedly watching him several times over the past season.

Astonishingly, Victor Wanyama is only 21 years old. The Kenyan’s goal against Barcelona was his tenth in sixty games for Celtic – one goal every six games, not bad for a defensive midfielder. Victor hasn’t many weaknesses in his game, even at such a young age.

The only thing I would criticise about his game is that he has a tendency to pick up silly bookings, but that’s all part of his style of play. As far as I’m concerned, he has everything a manager could possibly ask for in a footballer. His strength is visible for all to see with Wanyama regularly bossing the middle of the park, and this was again shown against Barcelona when he came up against the likes of Xavi, Song and Iniesta.

Although strength is a massive positive, he does bring much more to the field when playing; like his skill on the ball, pirouettes and step overs, his danger from set pieces (as shown against Barcelona and many other sides), his wonderful ability to break up the play and also his excellent vision along with his great range of passing. Victor Wanyama does tend to score a beauty every now and again, his most recent coming in a 5-0 drubbing of St. Mirren (although for every one great goal there are 50 that hit the corner flag!)

Wanyama has the potential to be a much more complete and frankly better player than the likes of Alex Song, being also compared with players such as Michael Essien and Marcel Desailly. I know these comparisons are very premature but the potential is there for all to see.

For those who use the “He only plays in the SPL” argument: Every great player has to start somewhere, and if Wanyama has to show his ability off in the SPL in order to get recognised by some of the world’s biggest clubs, the so be it. The argument of league doesn’t stand true anymore as he is consistently performing to the top level against some of the world’s greatest players.

In regards to where Wanyama would fit into the Manchester Untied squad, the Kenyan is more than good enough to hold down a place in the starting XI – that is not showing any disrespect to Untied and, instead, showing appreciation in Victor’s current ability and potential to grow. If Wanyama signed for United players such as Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverly, Anderson and Michael Carrick would all struggle to compete with himself, in my humble and honest opinion. I am in no way overrating Victor Wanyama, he would, undoubtedly, steak a place in most English Premiership sides’ starting XI.

As I stated earlier, Wanyama is regularly performing to a high standard, not only in the SPL, but also the Champions League. Victor has played 60 games for Celtic so far and is currently our top scorer in the SPL. He has also scored in the Champions League against Helsingborg and recently Barcelona – the first Kenyan ever to do so in the competition. Wanyama is the younger brother of MacDonald Mariga, who currently plays for Inter Milan and there is no surprise as to who is the more talented of the two, Wanyama, who is also highly regarded as one of the best young defensive midfielders in the whole of Africa at the moment.

Anything under £25million would be an absolute steal…believe me. In all honesty I don’t expect the figure to be anywhere near £25m if he is sold, but I know he’ll command that figure in the future.

Wanyama would enhance most teams, especially in the defensive side of the game, and I believe Manchester United would improve with him in the side. He is also improving in his attacking capabilities by scoring six already this season, beating last seasons tally already by two goals and has took seventeen shots in fifteen games whereas last season only managed one more shot in the whole campaign. That is why I believe he would be the perfect signing for Manchester United.

Below are some videos of Victor Wanyama’s ability and goals:

Highlights of his performance v Inter Milan in a friendly last year added in with some of his goals from last season.

His first goal for Celtic against Hearts last eeason.

Hist most recent goal in the SPL against St Mirren, his second of the game.

 

Another great goal against Dundee.

And last, but not least, of course his goal against Barcelona

By Kieran Caw @KieranCeltic