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Celtic: Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Tottenham may have dented Victor Wanyama transfer hopes

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Image for Celtic: Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Tottenham may have dented Victor Wanyama transfer hopes

Jose Mourinho’s arrival at Tottenham Hotspur is now expected to dent Celtic’s hopes of signing Victor Wanyama anytime soon, says Football Insider.

The report claims that new Spurs boss Mourinho wants to give a clean slate to all the players in the side so that they get an equal chance of making an impact. This includes Wanyama, who seemed all but set to leave the club permanently or on loan in the upcoming January transfer window.

The outlet also claims that Neil Lennon did try to make a loan swoop for the midfielder this past summer, but it failed. This had prompted him to make another move in January. But Mourinho’s arrival has now scuppered Celtic’s hopes from roping the Kenyan in from North London.


The former rock of Parkhead

A former Bhoys hero, Wanyama’s influence at Celtic has reduced at Tottenham over the last few seasons. He had left the Hoops in the summer of 2013 for a fee of £12.5m when he was only 21.

But he joined Spurs from Southampton in the summer of 2016 for a fee of £11 million. He reunited with former Saints’ boss Mauricio Pochettino, under whom he played out an impressive campaign in the 2016-17 season.

Spurs finished second in the Premier League that season, with Wanyama making 47 appearances in all competitions for the club and scoring five times too. Since then, things have gone downhill for Wanyama, who has missed 46 games since the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

Last season, Wanyama played only 22 times in all competitions. Only 13 of them came in the Premier League.

During his stint in Glasgow though, Wanyama had played 91 times in total. He managed to find the back of the net 13 times in all competitions during that time, racking up nine assists on the way too.

TIF Tactics

Wanyama, who is valued at £13.5m by TransferMarkt, has been the defensive midfielder wherever he has played, including Celtic and Spurs. At Southampton, he often had Morgan Schneiderlin play alongside him. At Spurs, he had Mousa Dembele partner him in midfield.

And as things stand, Celtic have only one proper defensive midfield option, apart from Scott Brown. That is Nir Bitton, who is originally a centre-back. Eboue Kouassi, 21, has not played a single Premiership game this season.

With the games now set to come thick and fast, Celtic would need depth in that area. Brown isn’t getting any younger with every passing day and Wanyama presents a younger option. Not just that, he is desperate to get back in form and back in shape. Going back to a club that has a special place in his heart would allow him to do that. Neil Lennon knows him well from their previous stint together.

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European Football Writer. Contributed for FootballItalia, Manchester United, Manchester Evening News, Calciomercato, GFFN and more.