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Wanyama Shocked At Super League Announcement

Montreal midfielder’s former club Tottenham Hotspur is heavily involved...

MLS: Montreal Impact at D.C. United
Victor Wanyama
Mitchell Layton-USA TODAY Sports

In a 12-year European career Victor Wanyama played more than fifty games for each of four clubs in Belgium, Scotland and England.

And like many pros, ex-pros and for that matter coaches across the game in Europe he was left shocked by Sunday afternoon’s announcement around a European Super League under which theoretically 15 clubs will permanently be included because they are some of the wealthiest on the continent, and 5 will make it by qualifying dependent on the previous season’s performance.

The announcement has shaken the European game to its very core.

“It’s a bit of a shock to see this. A lot of things happen. This is not football. Football’s about the fans, not only about the individuals,” said Wanyama.

“If we end up doing this it’s not good for football, so hopefully they can get their house in order and fans can get back to enjoying the game as normal.

“That’s the thing. We shouldn’t put our self-interest first and spoil the game. Football is a beautiful game so we have to respect that and let everything run normally.”

One of Wanyama’s former clubs, Tottenham Hotspur is one of six English clubs cited as founding members, despite not having won a European competition (the UEFA Cup) since the eighties, before Wanyama was born. They have not won the Championship in England either, since 1961.

Contrast that with Ajax Amsterdam, a club crowned Champions of Europe on four occasions.

Other clubs who have never been European Champions despite becoming founder members of the newly proposed league include Arsenal, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, while news emerged this evening that Schalke 04, who also fall into this category, could be Germany’s only representative.

Each of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have declared disinterest in the Super League, while in France the same can be said of Paris St Germain.



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