Victor Wanyama's one perfect season

The season that made him

Victor Wanyama's 2012-13 campaign at Celtic remains the clearest evidence of what he was capable of at his peak. He had already announced himself the previous season with a long-range strike against Hearts that won him the SPL Young Player of the Month award in December 2011, but it was 2012-13 that turned him into a genuine phenomenon. He scored twice in a single afternoon against St Mirren, including a thumping 25-yard half-volley, and added goals against Dundee United and Hearts again. Then came the night that made him a Kenyan sporting icon: on 7 November 2012, Wanyama headed home the opening goal as Celtic beat Barcelona 2–1 at Celtic Park in the Champions League, becoming the first Kenyan ever to score in the competition.

The season brought silverware too, the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Cup double, and individual recognition: Wanyama was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year and won the SPL Young Player of the Year award. He turned down an improved Celtic contract that autumn, and interest from England was already building. It was, by any measure, as complete a season as a young midfielder could have.

The move, and the long road after

That summer, Southampton paid £12.5 million for him, at the time the most expensive sale by a Scottish club, eclipsing the fee Spartak Moscow had paid for Aiden McGeady. It was a huge leap, and the first season in England did not replicate the Celtic form: Wanyama made 24 appearances, but injuries blunted his impact and he struggled to make the team his own.

He did recover his level, under Ronald Koeman in 2014-15 he scored three goals, including a 40-yard strike against Hull City, and won the Premier League's African Player of the Month award for September. That form carried him to Tottenham Hotspur in 2016, reuniting with Mauricio Pochettino, and he went on to start in the 2019 Champions League final.

But the pattern of his Southampton debut season became the story of the rest of his career. A knee injury against Chelsea in 2017 kept him out for over four months. Another knee injury the following pre-season delayed his return again, and he did not make his first start of 2018-19 until two months into the campaign. A move to Club Brugge in 2019 collapsed when Wanyama had reservations about the transfer. In March 2020 he left the Premier League altogether, joining MLS side CF Montréal as a Designated Player, where he later captained the club to a Canadian Championship title in 2021.

The final chapter

In March 2025, Wanyama returned to Scotland, not to Celtic, but to Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic, reuniting with his old Celtic manager Neil Lennon on a short-term deal. He made his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Ayr United and was sent off late on for handball. A year later, on 3 April 2026, Wanyama announced his retirement from professional football.

The Barcelona goal remains the moment most people remember, but it was the whole of that 2012-13 season, the goals, the awards, the double, that marked the peak Victor Wanyama never quite recaptured, even as he went on to play in a Champions League final and captain sides to trophies on another continent.