There seem to be quite a lot of needs Arsenal and Arsene Wenger need to address as the club sinks to lows they haven’t experienced in quite some time; one of them is finding a dominant defensive midfielder. Victor Wanyama of Celtic might be the man to fill the position.
There has been quite a lot of following to Wanyama’s status with the Scottish champions since he announced that he had turned down an improved contract offer from Celtic, stating that his wage demands could not be met by the club amid speculation of interest from clubs in England.
Arsenal, who have been playing Mikel Arteta as their DM for most of the season and now have turned to an out-of-form Abou Diaby have plenty of central midfielders, but none of them with the physical presence usually expected from a dominant defensive midfielder. Comparisons keep going back to Patrick Vieira, who isn’t the only prototype for a successful DM, but the fact is that Arsenal haven’t won a league title since the Frenchman left the club.
The 21 year-old Kenyan isn’t asking for too much in wages, which makes his signing option quite a lucrative one. The problem is Celtic asking for £10 million to part ways from the player, signed for only £900,000 from Beerschot AC in Belgium, where he was playing since 2008.
Wanyama’s trail is an interesting one: Born in Kenya, he played for two clubs in Nairobi during his teenage days before being picked up by Helsingborg in Sweden along with his brother McDonald Mariga. After Mariga was sold to the Serie A (now playing with Inter), Wanyama returned to Kenya before successfully performing in a trial for Beerschot.
He made a name for himself across Europe for those who didn’t already hear about him in Celtic’s 2-1 win against Barcelona in the Champions League, Wanyama scoring the opening goal for Chelsea. He’ll have another chance to impress for Celtic, if Arsenal do not sign him first, when they play against Juventus next month.
Celtic aren’t in too much of a rush to make money off the player, holding a contract with him until 2015.