VICTOR WANYAMA has completed his move to Southampton from Celtic, revealing that it was the persistence of the Barclays Premier League club that persuaded him to sign.
The Kenyan, who signed for Celtic from Beerschot in Belgium for £900,000 two years ago, had also attracted interest from Cardiff City but, after a summer of wrangling, finally put pen to paper on a four-year contract with Mauricio Pochettino's side.
The price, thought to be around £12.5m, is a record amount received by a Scottish club, eclipsing the £9.5m Spartak Moscow paid Celtic for Aiden McGeady in 2010 and other major fees such as those paid by Sunderland for then Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon and the £9m shelled out by Tottenham Hotspur to sign Alan Hutton from Rangers.
Writing on Twitter, the player paid tribute to Celtic and said: "I have a day of mixed emotions, happy to play in the English Premier League, honoured to be the first Kenyan to play in the English Premier League but very sad to leave Paradise. The club has been great, you fans are incredible. 67 will always be in my heart. I hope you wish me well."
Wanyama and his agent had seemed initially reluctant to enter contract talks with Southampton after the clubs had agreed a fee, seemingly hoping for a bigger name to enter the bidding, but the player was eventually won over by the perseverence of the St Mary's club who have now made the 22 year-old their record signing.
"I wish to thank everyone who has made this deal happen," said Wanyama. "Obviously, there are many clubs that have enquired about my services over the past season, but it is Southampton who kept on trying to acquire my services, and that trust is very important. It feels great and I am happy to be here.
"Finally it has happened and we've come to the end [of negotiations], so I am delighted. There were other options, but Southampton is a club with ambitions so I chose to came here. Southampton is a good club and it has good players, so I just want to train hard and work hard to be a part of the starting XI. We'll see where that will take me. I'm very grateful to be here and I'm looking forward to playing in the Premier League.
"I've seen that the stadium is great and the dressing room is looking good, and I know some of the players. I hope they will help me and I think I will get along with the others, so it will be good. I am happy to be a part of Southampton's squad. It means a lot because because it has been my dream to play in the Premier League and now I am here."
Pochettino believed he had made a key acquisition ahead of the new season. "I am very pleased to have secured the signing of Victor because we are a big admirer of his talents and he will fit in well to the team here at Southampton," he told the club's website. "I want to stress that the deal could have been done sooner, but this shows that we do business on our terms. The most important thing is ourselves, Celtic and the player are all happy with the way it has all gone.
"The fact that a lot of top European clubs were also keen to sign him shows what an attractive prospect Southampton Football Club is to a player who had his pick of the teams in England and abroad. I've watched him perform at the top level in the Champions League, and I believe he will be a valuable addition to our Premier League squad for the season ahead."
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