2012: The year of Victor Wanyama

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PHOTO | IAN MACNICOL Barcelona's Spanish player Pedro Rodriguez (L) competes with Celtic's Kenyan player Victor Wanyama during their UEFA Champions League Group G football match at Celtic Park in Glasgow on November 7, 2012.  AFP

By PHARIS KAMARU
Posted  Sunday, December 30  2012 at  02:00

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A little over a year ago Celtic paid Belgian club AC Beerschot £900,000 for a player manager Neil Lennon had never seen live, he was shown match footage of Victor Wanyama in action and Lennon saw enough to authorize the purchase.

A year later FC Barcelona, who themselves have had the pleasure of facing Wanyama, together with Manchester United are said to lead a lengthy list of admirers and suitors.

Celtic say he is worth £25m but United are said to be ready to table a £12m pounds deal ready for January 2013.

Wanyama has been fantastic for Celtic, whether he plays in defense, or midfield, he has shown great energy, power and commitment to the tackle plus he is a willing runner to join attacks from midfield. Wanyama has five goals for the season, an equal number with Gary Hooper, Celtic’s starting striker.

What makes Wanyama special?

He is literally a Yaya Toure kind of player, he will make a defensive challenge on the edge of his own box, pass the ball and show up at the other end of the field to slide it into the back of the net. He may not have the technical pedigree of Yaya yet but his potential is there for all to see.

In the match against Barcelona, Wanyama played against Alex Song and there was no question who had the better game between them; such is the distance Wanyama has travelled in such a short time.

I think Celtic will find a good cash offer hard to resist and the player himself will find it hard to turn down a move to a club like Manchester United.

Wanyama aside, a few other stories made waves in 2012 such Lionel Messi’s record breaking feat of scoring 90 goals in a calendar year - the record was 85.

Messi is unbelievable, 90 goals is super human. Two weeks ago Messi was having a really awful game, yes I said awful and he still scored twice.

The rise of Falcao is also a 2012 story of note. The Colombian moved to Atletico Madrid to replace Aguero and he has unbelievable form. He is big, strong, quick, and imaginative and rumour has it he is on his way to Chelsea as another £50m striker.

Speaking of Aguero, his strike against QPR in the final minute of the match secured Man City’s first Premier League title in 50 years, one goal difference, but a title nonetheless. It is the least a 200 million plus squad could do in my opinion but enough about that.

The biggest transfer of 2012 was the baffling sale of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United because Wenger would not sanction a few extra thousand pounds per week and assure the Dutchman that top drawer players would be arriving in the transfer window to make a serious push for the title.

Van Persie left, and Arsenal’s season has proved him right so far, the Dutchman has scored 15 goals in 21 appearances and no less than Alex Ferguson himself has compared Van Persie to legend Eric Cantona and it’s hard to argue with the comparison.

If United lift the title this season, Alex Ferguson will need to send Arsene Wenger a bottle of wine and a thank you note.

Zambia started the year very well with a remarkable run at the African Cup of Nations. Christopher Katongo was brilliant and was deservedly named BBC African Footballer of the Year and I look forward to seeing him in a few weeks time at the 2013 edition.

Locally we had FKF elections and unfortunately, lets not sugar coat things, Sam Nyamweya won. We hired Louis Michel as coach of the Stars but he did not last for two months and we are back to square one.

We secured a national team sponsor in Tusker but for the life of me I cannot tell where the money goes.

We had a massive Kenyan Premier League season Gor Mahia were tremendous, so were AFC but Tusker remain Champions.

Bring on 2013.