The Harambee Stars skipper reveals he was sad to leave the North London club without winning a single trophy
Victor Wanyama feels he deserved to win a trophy in England before he ended his stay to sign for Montreal Impact.
The 28-year-old Kenyan captain left Tottenham in March to complete a move to the United States, to play Major League Soccer (MLS).
In total, Wanyama enjoyed a seven-year stint in the Premier League but a nagging knee injury derailed his career as he fell down the pecking order and was later let go by Spurs.
Wanyama, who made 97 appearances for Tottenham across all competitions, has now stated he feels sorry for Spurs’ fans that he did not manage to win a trophy to celebrate with them having reached the final of the Champions League where they lost to Liverpool. They also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup.
The team finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in his three full seasons in the league.
“It’s sad,” Wanyama told MLSsoccer.com. “I felt sorry leaving like that, I’m sorry to the fans and myself after having a top team, performing at our best, but not winning anything. It’s just a shame. It’s painful to have left with nothing.”
Wanyama had a similar feeling of disappointment at Southampton. The team regularly punched above their weight but couldn’t win silverware.
“Our team was really strong at Southampton with top players, it’s unbelievable we didn’t win anything,” Wanyama lamented. “It happened twice for me, at Southampton then Spurs. We had an unbelievable team, but we didn’t win anything.”
Part of the problem at Southampton was the club’s stature in England, often selling their best players, starting with their famed academy that produced the likes of Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, and others, as well as their eye for young talent across the continent.
During Wanyama’s time, they sold Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers, Morgan Schneinderlin, and others to Premier League rivals.
To Liverpool, in particular, there was a well-travelled path. Liverpool bought Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne and Sadio Mane from Southampton during that period, and would later add Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool long needed a defensive midfielder and, given he was Southampton’s best, rumours regularly linked Wanyama to follow in the footsteps of former teammates.
“At some point, they were calling us the reserve team of Liverpool,” Wanyama chuckled. “But I didn’t think they were going to buy me. There were rumours, but I don’t know if there was any truth to it.”
Wanyama has had only a few training sessions with his new teammates and one competitive match, a 2-1 loss in the Concacaf Champions League on the final night MLS teams played competitive matches before both MLS and CCL suspended play owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
He’s impressed with his teammates and the club, thus he is hopeful he won’t reflect on a trophy-less time with Montreal.
“I think there is no limit to what we can do,” Wanyama concluded.
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