Spurs in £16m move for former Celt

Spurs are expected to put in a £16m bid for Southampton’s Victor Wanyama.

The news emerged last night according to ‘Sky Sports sources’ following Southampton’s 1-1 draw at home to Midtjylland in the Europa League.

Wanyama left Celtic for Southampton two years ago in a £12m deal and quickly made an impression as the south coast outfit established themselves in the top half of the Premier League and become a magnet for bigger clubs to sign players.

Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of Southampton at the time and is believed to be keen on being reunited with the midfielder at Spurs.

Southampton lost Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United earlier in the summer and are reluctant to sell Wanyama in the final week of the transfer window.

Wanyama has got two years left on his Saints contract and has never hidden his ambition to play at the very highest level.

In July 2011 Celtic paid £1m to sign the 19-year-old from Eckeren in Belgium with his powerful midfield play quickly nailing down a place in Neil Lennon’s side that won the SPL title.

After starring- and scoring- against Barcelona in the Champions League it became inevitable that Wanyama would move to England with Celtic making an £11m profit after two seasons of service.

Like Celtic Southampton are comfortable in their role as a development club, happy to bring players in and develop them before selling on for a profit.

With transfer fee inflation going through the roof it’s likely that Spurs will need to offer £20m to take the player to London with Southampton heavily linked with an interest in Virgil van Dijk.