Tue Jun 25, 2013 5:36 am
Tuesday 25th June 2013.
Suddenly, the Premier League has changed everything, hence Malky Mackay’s stunning £10m move for Victor Wanyama.
For decades, the idea of little Cardiff City genuinely being in the mix for Celtic’s finest young talent would have been sneered at.
If anything, as Joe Ledley proved, it has always been the other way around.
Celtic are perhaps third to only Manchester United and Liverpool when it comes to discussing the biggest clubs in Britain.
They offer regular top European football, play to sell-out crowds home and away every week and have been a world brand name for 50 years.
Cardiff are, well little old Cardiff, in the grand scheme of things.
Suddenly, the Premier League has changed everything, hence Malky Mackay’s stunning £10m move for Victor Wanyama.
The Bluebirds have been linked with almost an entire division of players thus far this summer, ranging from old Mackay favourites such as jobbing Jamie Mackie to Rolls Royce type figures of the mould of Lyon’s Bafetimbi Gomis.
Only three of the names mentioned, and as I say there have been many, have really thrilled me.
One, of course, is Gomis, the Lyon hit-man who plays centre-forward for France, but who seems destined to go elsewhere.
The other two are Blackpool ace Tom Ince and Wanyama – two men I believed were out of City’s league, but who, it appears, are not.
When Wanyama was first linked with the Bluebirds last week, my own initial reaction was of the sneering variety I talk of in the very first sentence of this article.
This blockbuster of a midfield player shone brightly, and scored, in Celtic’s incredible 2-1 Champions League triumph over Barcelona just a few months back.
If Wanyama didn’t exactly outplay Xavi and Iniesta that night, he was a fundamental reason why Celtic pulled off the European shock of the season.
Invariably, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal began being linked with him.
Why, under those circumstances, would he wish to contemplate a move to Cardiff?
Yet at 21, Wanyama, it seems, is prepared to use a smaller Premier League team as a stepping stone to greatness with one of the genuine giants of the division.
That way, at least, he is guaranteed regular football, the main man of a side, rather than a fringe squad player.
He, more than anyone, knows he still has a lot to learn and there is no better place to learn it than in the hurly-burly of competitive Premier League football.
Southampton were red-hot favourites to be that stepping stone for Wanyama, but something went wrong over personal terms with them on Sunday evening.
Which is why the Bluebirds, their ear to the ground on the transfer grapevine, neatly nipped in with their club record bid.
Will Wanyama come? Time will tell, but for Mackay’s Bluebirds he would be an absolutely perfect Premier League fit.
Big, strong, powerful, robust, he is exactly what is required to make Cardiff competitive in the 2013-14 campaign and get them on the front foot in the midfield battleground.
Wanyama appears to have everything. He can tackle like a mule, is calm on the ball, charges box to box and can storm past opponents in possession.
He is also dangerous at set-pieces, has a strong shot, scores goals and is versatile enough to play centre-half.
A lesser version, if you like, of Manchester City’s Yaya Toure. In Africa, Wanyama is being dubbed the new Michael Essien.
With Kim Bo-kyung, Jordon Mutch, Peter Whittingham and Aron Gunnarsson already at the club, the capture of Wanyama would give Mackay genuine midfield options.
And that is so important in the Premier League where the 4-4-2 formation Mackay favoured for most of the title-winning Championship campaign just gone won’t work for the Bluebirds.
Possession will be nine-tenths of the law against the better teams in the top flight and Cardiff will need three men in that central midfield area, not two, supplemented by two wide men.
It’s one of the reasons Swansea have done so well since their promotion. Keep the ball and you’re less likely to concede a goal.
Give it away by being overrun in the midfield and strikers of the quality of Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero and Michu will punish you.
Three in the middle is the system Mackay finally utilised towards the end of the Championship campaign, when he dropped Peter Whittingham and picked Kim and Mutch next to Gunnarsson, with Fraizer Campbell as the lone striker.
So which trio, should Wanyama sign, does Mackay choose for Premier League duty?
Well, Wanyama would have to be the first pick as the holding player, giving real presence and energy to the spine of Cardiff’s team.
After that, take your pick, I guess. Kim oozes class, Mutch can become an England international if he can keep injury-free, Whittingham is the most technically gifted player at the club.
His set-pieces early on, against teams like West Ham and Everton, could be crucial.
And Gunnarsson, captain of Iceland, is good old Mr Reliable, an intelligent and hugely under-rated footballer.
He could sit deep and enable Wanyama to rampage forward next to Mutch, with Kim pushed wide.
He could play right-back, freeing up three of the other four for the midfield berths.
Whittingham could hold the midfield next to Wanyama, releasing one of Kim or Mutch to get forward.
The options, it would appear, could be endless.
This is a potential transfer which really does enthral. Wanyama is already captain of Kenya at just 21, making his international debut against Nigeria at the age of only 15.
He is clearly an extraordinary talent who does appear destined for one of the Premier’s big four.
If Cardiff can net him first for a few years, and then double their transfer outlay by selling him on, then that smacks of good business.
Tue Jun 25, 2013 5:44 am
If we somehow manage to sign these 2, they can only help the cause, especially wanyama.
He could be our greatest signing as long as he gives 110%
Tue Jun 25, 2013 6:51 am
Fantastic signing "IF" he wants to come. He's a brilliant player - he has to put his body on the line for CCFC. Not just see it as a stepping stone for his beloved Man Utd later down the line. Fergie watched this lad 3times last season. Malky - if he come to CCS he must want to come and play for us. CTID
Tue Jun 25, 2013 6:52 am
I notice in the daily mail they are saying celtic rejected our £10m offer...
Truth is the negotiations between celtic and potential new clubs are being made more difficult by the fact that Wanyama's agent wants a £1m cut of the fee for himself!
Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:03 am
Just pay the £12m for him. Hes a class player, someone who can take us up 2 levels easy, only young so one solid season performance in the PL and he'll be touted as the next Essien and we'll be able to profit from that.This guy is a beast at a young age and is only going to grow into the role as he gets older.
Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:06 am
Malky Is My God wrote:Just pay the £12m for him. Hes a class player, someone who can take us up 2 levels easy, only young so one solid season performance in the PL and he'll be touted as the next Essien and we'll be able to profit from that.This guy is a beast at a young age and is only going to grow into the role as he gets older.
If he has the desire to play. Seems to be more interested in the pay.
Tried to leave Celtic after one season - now saying he lost £1 million by staying and being refused permission to go to QPR last year.
Wants to leave Celtic for who gives the biggest pay packet.