Tottenham recently announced the signing of Southampton’s Victor Wanyama to the side, something that they have been trying to complete for a season or so. The Kenyan has been one of the best players in his defensive midfield role and it is no surprise that that 24-year-old was snapped up by one of the best teams from last year’s competition.
Spurs will be playing in the Champions League this time around and have needed to work really hard on their squad strength and bringing in Wanyama from the South coast is an incredible piece of business. It is even more surprising that Southampton let him go for a paltry £11 million, which is peanuts in the world of the Premier League.
The London club do have a number of decent midfielders in their side with the likes of Eric Dier, Moussa Dembele and even Nacer Chadli does well to get into the middle of the park on a regular basis. So what does Wanyama bring to the team this season?
Tenacity and toughness
Apart from playing under Pochettino at Southampton, Wanyama does bring in a lot of tackling tenacity and energy to the Southampton team. There were a lot of questions asked about Tottenham’s mental frailness, especially after the way they capitulated during the end of the season which saw them finish third, when they should have easily held on to the second spot.
While many of the players were young and inexperienced, Wanyama has done it all for a number of clubs and he does seem to be built of sterner material than some of the other Tottenham players. Sure, he might still be only 24 at the moment but that does not mean he cannot bring in his resilience and ability to never give up to this incredible and young side.
Another important aspect that we cannot overlook is the fact that the arrival of the Kenyan does put a lot of pressure and focus on the likes of the other Tottenham midfielders to perform. Dembele and Dier were brilliant for Spurs last season, no doubts about that, but what about this next one?
Dembele would be serving a few games out due to a suspension and that would mean that Wanyama does get a start in the first game of the season for Spurs. This could also lead to a lot of competition for the two midfield slots in the team and the greater the competition is the better it would be for Spurs as each player would look to outdo the other.