Portal:Football in Africa/Selected biography/10

Victor Wanyama is a Kenyan footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the Kenya national team.

After a successful trial, Wanyama signed for Beerschot AC on a four-year contract in summer 2008. He made his debut in a League match at the end of the 2008–09 season. In the summer of 2010 Scottish Premier League club Celtic attempted to sign Wanyama but Beerschot did not allow him to leave. Russian club CSKA Moscow also attempted to sign him, but they failed as well. He scored his first goal for Beerschot on 11 December 2010, a 77th minute equaliser against Westerlo.

On 9 July 2011, Wanyama completed a £900,000 move to Celtic from Beerschot AC, who had failed to sign him a year earlier. He signed a four-year contract and in doing so became the first ever Kenyan to play in the SPL. Wanyama chose 67 as his squad number to honour the Lisbon Lions, Celtic's 1967 European Cup winning team. He made his Celtic league debut in a 1–0 loss to St Johnstone on 21 August 2011. He played in central defence rather than his favoured central midfield role.

Wanyama became the first ever Kenyan player to score in the UEFA Champions League when he scored the first goal in Celtic's historic 2–1 win over Barcelona on 7 November 2012. He scored the first goal with a powerful header before Tony Watt added a second late on.

On 11 July 2013, Wanyama moved to Premier League club Southampton for £12.5 million making him the most expensive player to be sold by a Scottish club, surpassing the £9.5 million Russian club Spartak Moscow paid for Aiden McGeady in 2010. He became the first ever Kenyan to play in the Premier League when he made his debut for Southampton against West Bromwich Albion on 17 August 2013.