The former Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton midfielder has started a new chapter in the Scottish Championship.
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QPR had been working on a free transfer move for former Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama in recent weeks, only to be beaten by Scottish Championship side Dunfermline.
The 33-year-old is regarded as a Celtic legend thanks to his trophy-laden two years in Glasgow between 2011 and 2013. During those years, Wanyama worked with Neil Lennon and he will reunite with the manager at Dunfermline.
Lennon was appointed at the Scottish Championship side on Friday and has persuaded Wanyama to return to Scotland 12 years after he left the club to join Southampton. The 52-year-old head coach will now look to keep the Fife club clear of the relegation zone over the final seven fixtures of the league season.
QPR miss out on transfer race for ex Premier League star
It’s a head-turning coup for Dunfermline and, according to the Daily Record, the outfit beat QPR to the signing of Wanyama. The report claims that the midfielder was choosing between the R’s and Dunfermline but that appointment of Lennon helped win that race.
Wanyama has only signed a short term deal with Dunfermline and will play for the side until the end of the season. The player was most recently at CF Montreal but left the club after five years on the expiry of his contract in January.
A statement from the Pars read: "DAFC are delighted to announce the signing of Kenyan international, Victor Wanyama, on a deal until the end of the season, subject to international clearance.
"The 33-year-old defensive midfielder has had a decorated career, playing for clubs such as Celtic, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and most recently, CF Montreal. Wanyama made 64 appearances for Kenya, captaining the country at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, before retiring from international football in 2021."
Victor Wanyama and Neil Lennon rekindle Scottish love affair
Wanyama has a strong reputation in Scotland having won two Scottish Premier League titles with Celtic and a Scottish Cup. Southampton paid £12.5 million to sign the player in 2013. A move to Spurs eventually came in 2016, where he spent four years and was part of the 2019 Champions League runners-up side.
Lennon always spoke highly of Wanyama while at Celtic, labelling the player a ‘wonderful talent’ in 2012 and insisting that he was good enough to play for a side such as Barcelona. That respect is mutual too. Speaking while at Spurs in 2019, Wanyama said: “I will always be grateful to Celtic for what they did for me and my career and I will always be grateful to Neil Lennon, too.
“Celtic taught me what the Champions League was all about. I think he is a fantastic manager and a fantastic coach but he is also a good man. He taught me the game. He made me a mature player. He gave me that understanding which let me go on.
“He taught me that it doesn’t matter who the opponents are or what they can do or who is in their team. We faced big teams with Celtic in the Champions League but we did it with belief. I learned so much from him about that. Neil gave me a platform and also a belief that I could go and play at the highest level.”
In other news, this QPR striker has teased his comeback from injury this week ahead of Stoke City.